Just Enough
by Chevious
Summary: Cowritten by the wonderful Eiez Chevious Nogard has a very complicated relationship with her best friend, Remus Lupin. The question plaguing her is 'Are they more then just friends?.' Remus doesn't seem to see it that way...or does he? COMPLETED
1. Part One

Disclaimer: I wish I was the genius, JK Rowling, but I'm not and, therefore, own none if her characters. Chevious, Feathin, and Eiez belong to my friends and I. Molly Jameson is the future Mrs. Weasley. Mr. and Ares Alucard, Anya Dellone, the potions master, and the story itself belong to me. The song "Just Enough" belongs to Hoku. I don't own Middleton. It is an actual town in England. Me, being the freak I am, looked up a site that listed of the towns and counties. Middleton is located in either Suffolk or Essex (it's kinda hard to tell from the map).

Chev's A/N: Chev's A/N: YAY ME! I WROTE A SOMEWHAT GOOD SUMMARY! Moving right along, this is the redone version of my HP fic "Just Enough". I thought the first version sucked really bad so I decided to redo it. In this one Chevious doesn't sound like a slut. Anywayz! The ----(4 dashes) around Italics show where the parts of the lyrics to "Just Enough" by Hoku begin and end. Other Italics are thoughts. As usual, please Read and review. Sorry the formatting is a bit screwed up. I'm trying to work with it.

E's A/N: YO DAWGS! Haha, j/p. Eiez here, I just want to say that this is a kick ass story and please review! THANKS!

**Pronounciations:**

**Eiez: Eee-ez**

**E: Ee**

**Feathin:Feeth-in**

**Feath- Feeth**

**Chevious: Chee-vee-us**

**Chev: Cheeev**

**Ares: Air-ees**

**Alucard: Al-oo-card**

Just Enough 

----

_It was nearly 9 o'clock when I thought about you_

Are you with someone else 

----

Chevious Nogard sat atop her four poster bed peering around the dormitory, unable to sleep. Her best friends, Feathin Potter and Eiez Adkins, slept soundly on either side of her. Molly Jameson snored loudly on the bed across from Feathin. Lily Evans had her face buried beneath her pillow next to Molly.

_Feathin.... You awake?_ Chevious whispered across her longtime friend's mind. She didn't stir. Chevious turned to face the back of Eiez's head. _Eiez...you up?_ She didn't move a muscle or even think a response.

She eased back onto her pillow. Her mind was reeling with thought of a boy with cinnamon brown hair and gorgeous, tired hazel eyes. Butterflies fluttered through her stomach. Her heart soared just at the thought of him. _Remus_, she thought absently. As soon as she realized what she had thought, she nearly kicked herself. _What were you thinking?! Get a grip Chev! He's one of your best friends! How could you be so head over heels for this guy?! Plus, he's with that scrawny little Ravenclaw, Anya Dellone. Why would he want to dump her for you?!_

Chevious tossed and turned for another hour, trying to fall into a deep slumber. It was all to no avail. Remus continued to monopolize her thoughts.

----

It was almost 10 o'clock when I thought I'd do 

_Something to free myself_

----

She glanced over at her magic powered alarm clock. It was almost 10 o'clock. She hadn't realized how early it still was. Everyone must have been pretty tired. They were usually the last ones out of the common room. Maybe there were still some people down there.

Chevious flung open the hangings of her bed and slipped on her cow print slippers. She pulled her terry cloth robe on over her pajamas. Stealthily, she slipped out of the room without waking anyone. She wondered down the spiral staircase to find it deserted. Chevious sighed and plopped herself down in one of the fluffy armchairs. She stared silently at the diminishing flames in the hearth.

----

And then about 12 o'clock

I'm driving down you block

I see a light shining underneath your door

----

The ancient grandfather clock chimed loudly startling a once sleeping Chevious. She gazed up at it. It was midnight. She had finally fallen asleep in the armchair. She straightened up and stretched. Her back ached from sleeping in an odd position.

She looked down and noticed that she had been covered with a blanket and a piece of parchment had fallen from her lap onto the floor. She reached down and grasped it with her index and middle fingers. She raised it to eye level to read. _To Chevious Nogard. _That was all the outside had written on it. She unfolded the delicate paper. Inside, in red ink, the message written said:

_Chevious,_

_You looked cold so I took the liberty of covering you up when I came down earlier. Hope you don't mind. Anyway, I need to talk to you. I'll meet you in the Common Room around one o'clock. If your still sleeping, don't worry, I won't disturb you. It isn't so important that it can't wait. See you then._

_Remus_

Chevious' heart became lighter than air. _How considerate of him to think of my 'beauty sleep' before his problems! _She slipped the note into the pocket of her robe and headed for the stairs. She paused at the top. She stared at the door the lead to the boys' dormitories. She hesitated slightly before strolling toward it.

The door creaked open and a narrow stairwell rose into the dark abyss above her. She tiptoed upward. The cold stone gave of no sound of her footfalls upon it. She ascended higher and higher until she came upon a door with a sign reading SEVENTH YEARS adorning it. A dim light shown beneath the door. She started to reach for the knob, but lost her nerve once her fingertips brushed up against the cool metal. She quickly recoiled her extended arm and mentally slapped herself. _What was I thinking?! This was insane! I shouldn't have come up here!_ She reluctantly returned to the Common Room to wait for Remus.

----

_I'm home about 1 o'clock_

And you finally call me up I guess I was hoping for just a little more 

----

The clock chimed once behind her. Chevious was once again seated in the fluffy armchair. She looked up at it. One o'clock. _He should be here any minute._ She could already feel the butterflies rising in her stomach.

Suddenly two hands clamped down over her eyes. She jumped slightly, the immediately knew who it was.

"Guess who," a deep voice uttered into her ear. She could feel his hot breath lingering on her neck.

"Ummm......is it that sexy Sirius Black?!" she joked.

"Sexy huh?!" the voice chuckled and the hands were taken away from her eyes. Remus stood before her. His hair was a bit messy, but his weary eyes seemed to be smiling back at her. "I'll be sure to let him know. That awe to inflate his ego a little more."

Chevious giggle. Remus took a seat on the couch next to her chair. She swallowed hard and rose. She took a seat near him on the couch. He looked at her for a moment before he turned his gaze to the fire.

"Anya dumped me," Remus murmured dejectedly, completely changing his impression of happiness to rejection.

"What?!" Chevious' mouth dropped slightly. "Why did she do that?"

"She said she was sick of 'pity dating' me and had found someone _worth_ her time." He buried his face in his hands.

"That's terrible! What a bitch!"

"Am I really _THAT_ pitiful?!"

"What do you mean pitiful?!"

"You know what I mean! Am I really that bad of a person?! Do I look so terrible that people pity me?!"

"REMUS JEREMIAH LUPIN!" Chevious pratically shouted jumping up off the couch. Remus' head snapped up to look at her. "_WHO GAVE YOU THE IDEA YOU WERE A BAD PERSON OR BAD LOOKING?!_"

"Well, it was kind of implied when she said she was pity dating me."

"Hey, cut yourself some slack! She's stupid for dropping you! I know a couple girls dying to date you!" _Yeah! Me....Myself....and I, just to name a few._

"You think so, Chev?"

"Sure! Forget her!"

"Thanks, Chev."

Before she could stop him, he embraced her. She then found her arms sliding comfortably around his waist. Her head rested on his broad shoulder. She closed her eyes and wished that they could stay like this forever. As she began to slide gently into his mind, he began to pull away. She lost her concentration and slammed back into her own head. He stared at her with those beautiful eyes of his and she wanted to melt.

"You don't know how much that helped. Thank you."

"Don't worry, Rem. I'll always be here for you."

"I know."

----

_You give me_

_Just Enough_

_To keep me hanging on_

_'Til I'm ready to move on_

_And then you find a way to make your play_

_And then I stay_

----

"So, he and wittle Anya broke up?!" Eiez repeated as she loaded her bagel with blueberry cream cheese.

"Yeah. He was really upset and asked me if he was pitiful," Chevious added.

"_Say what?!_" Feathin said, making bits of half-chewed toast fly in every direction.

"She said she was sick of 'pity dating' and had found someone worth her time."

"You're kidding me!" Eiez exclaimed, while she wiped flecks of regurgitated toast off her face.

"Nope."

"She is _SO _cursed!" Feathin proclaimed, standing up and leaving, wand in hand.

"I'd better stop her from doing anything TOO bad!" Eiez said as she went off to find Feathin.

Chevious smiled. They would all do anything for Remus, or any of their friends for that matter. Anya was in for a rude awakening when Feathin got to her, especially if Feathin convinced Eiez to help her.

"What was that all about?" Sirius and James sat down across from her.

"Oh nothing. Eiez and Feathin are just going to take care of Anya."

"He told us this morning," James added. "He said you really did make him feel better."

"Great!" Chevious replied.

"OH! Before I forget," Sirius said. "Remus said he wanted to talk to you."

"Again?" she said skeptically, he heart starting to rise into the air.

"Yeah, I guess. He's in the Common Room."

"Thanks."

Chevious stood and made her way back to the Common Room.

-------------

"Hey, Chevious," Remus said as she took a seat beside him on the couch.

"Hey," Chevious replied as calmly as she could. It was very difficult for her to do this when he was so close. "You wanted to talk to me."

"Oh, yeah. I did." He seemed a bit distant. "I just wanted to say I like..." Chevious' breath caught in her throat. "I like...having you around....and....I wanted to thank you for being such a good friend, I guess..."

"Oh....." Her heart dropped. "Your welcome....I guess."

Without warning, he embraced her as he had early that morning. As they did before, her arms unconsciously encircled his trim waist. She settled her head on his shoulder.

A silent tear skated down her cheek. _I guess I was hoping for a little more than a hug_, Chevious couldn't help but think as Remus held her in his arms. He slowly began to draw back.

Just as suddenly as the hug, his soft lips brushed her cheek. Chevious was a bit surprised. Her heart began to soar again. The now familiar butterflies fluttered furiously through her stomach. He pulled away and stared at her with those beautiful hazel eyes that always made her melt like an ice cube in august.

"Thanks for being there for me, Chev. You don't know how much it means to me."

He leaned in once more. Her body ached with anticipation as he drew nearer. She could feel the heat radiating off his body.

"Hey, Chevious! Remus!"

Remus jolted back in surprise. They both turned to see had called out their names. Eiez, Feathin, and Lily were walking to toward them. Lily plopped herself down between Chevious and Remus, much to Chevious' dismay. Eiez and Feathin sat down beside their friend.

"What's up?" Eiez asked in a perky voice, a huge suggestive smile crossing her lips.

"Nothing," Remus and Chevious proclaimed in unison.

"Uh huh," Eiez said skeptically, her left eyebrow beginning to twitch.

"Look, I gotta go," Remus exclaimed. "I'll see you guys later."

He stood and made a hasty exit.

"What's with him?!" Lily asked, motioning her thumb in the direction in which he had disappeared.

"How should I know?" Chevious sighed.

"Right....." Eiez said. "Chev, can we talk to you?!"

Eiez and Feathin grabbed Chevious and headed for the stairs.

"Guys! Wait up!" Lily exclaimed, running after them.

"No offense, Lily, but me and Feathin wanna get the details alone."

"Oh..." Lily sighed, looking hurt. "Well.....I'll see you guys later then."

Lily disappeared into the crowded Common Room. Eiez and Feathin led Chevious up the spiral staircase and into their own dormitory. After a quick check for eavesdroppers, they all sat in the middle of the room.

"So spill it, girl! What the hell did we just interrupt?!" Eiez asked anxiously. Feathin nodded in agreement, not bothering to hide her own interest.

"Nothing!"

"Liar!" Feathin exclaimed. "It's SO obvious that we walked in on something. Remus left like he was gonna be killed if he didn't leave."

"It's nothing to serious." She stood and straightened her robes. "He just tried to kiss me. That's all."

Her friends' faces remained blank, seeming to try to comprehend what they had just been told. Chevious took that opportunity to leave.

----

_Just Enough_

_To give me hope_

_That you will fall in love with me_

_Just Enough_

_Just Enough, baby_

----

Chevious sat silently taking notes during Divination. Professor Trelawney was mistily rambling about how to read the future in a crystal ball. Eiez snored softly beside her. She glanced at her friend. '_And she wonders why she does so bad in Divination_,' Chevious couldn't help but think as she continued to scribble notes in her notebook.

"Now, my dears," Trelawney instructed. "We're going to look into the mystic orbs and see what lies beyond your minds eye."

Chevious nudged Eiez hard in the ribs. Eiez jumped. She knocked Chevious' crystal ball off the table, causing it to shatter.

"AHHHH! DON'T LET THE HUGE EVIL PINK BUNNIES GET ME!" Eiez exclaimed rather loudly.

Trelawney frowned at her. "I'm glad you know enough about the beyond that you don't feel the need to remain alert in my class. Please see me afterward, Miss Adkins."

Eiez sigh miserably and stared at the blue mist swirling within the glass orb.

"I just can't do this! I suck at divination!" she huffed.

"It's really not that hard," Chevious explained.

"Sure, it's not hard for a seer! Divination is practically in your blood! But, as for the rest of this, it's friggin difficult!"

Chevious ignored Eiez's ramblings and concentrated on her crystal ball. A fuzzy picture formed before her eyes.

Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed at her forehead. Her head slammed back against the back of the chair. Blurbs of scenes flashed before her eyes. A bat. A snake. Remus and herself; they were happy. Herself…..

.........sleeping……

……no……

……not sleeping…..

………dead……..

-------------

Chevious lay awake in the hospital wing, staring at the ceiling. Trelawney had sent her down there because she believed it was some sort of cursed seizure. Plus, she had hit her head pretty hard.

She was attempting to sort through what she had seen in her premonition. She often saw bits of the future, but she was never really able to sort everything until it happened. The bat couldn't have been just a bat. Why would she see an ordinary bat? The same goes for the snake. Remus and herself happy together suited her just fine. That image had been really clear. The next image had struck her as odd. Why would herself dead? She didn't seem old at all in the premonition. So, this event couldn't be to far away. She had appeared to be injured as well, probably from a fall of some kind. She also looked like she was on a beach or somewhere with a lot of sand.

Madam Pomfrey scuttled into the room. She had a thermometer in her hand. She shoved it into Chevious' mouth, grabbed her wrist, and began to take her pulse.

"You seem to be alright now, Miss Nogard," she reported. "You're exempt from taking the rest of your classes today. I want you to go right back to your dormitory and lay down. Don't want you hurting yourself again."

"Thanks, Madam Pomfrey," Chevious replied.

She stood. Madam Pomfrey handed her a note and she left.

Chevious walked slowly down the corridor, trying to avoid the inquisition from her friends. She wasn't really paying attention and ran into someone. She fell to the floor with a thud. The other person remained standing.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going," Chevious apologized.

"Tiz all right," the person said in a thick French accent. "I wazn't reely watching ezar."

She looked up. Ares Alucard stood over her. He was an exchange student from Beauxbatons. His platinum blonde hair looked white in the beams of afternoon sunlight. His deep pale blue eyes seemed to see right through her. He had a gold hoop earring glared in the light. He was hot, but she found him a bit creepy.

He offered her a pale hand. She took it and, with help, stood back up.

"Are you all right?" he asked, a note of concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chevious answered. "Sorry 'bout that, Aries."

"It tiz all right."

"Anywayz, I guess I'd better get back to class now."

"I'll walk you back."

"No!"

He looked at her funny.

"I mean, no thanks. I can find my own way back."

She turned around and began walking as fast as she could down the hall without seeming eager to get away.

"I'll zee you lay-tor then," he exclaimed.

As soon as she turned the corner, Chevious stopped to make sure she heard him leave. Nothing. She peered around the corner. The corridor was empty. That seemed odd, especially because she hadn't even heard him leave.

Chevious turned and ran back to the Common Room, thoroughly freaked out.

That evening, Eiez, Feathin, Feathin's brother James, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew all sat around the fire playing Exploding Snap Remus sat beside Chevious, listening intently as she tried to explain to him how to do his homework for Arithmancy. As soon as they figured it out, Chevious and Remus sat in silence. Occasionally, she caught him glancing up at her. Of course, he caught her too.

Somewhere around 11:00, the Common Room had emptied except for her and her friends.

"Well, its getting late," Sirius proclaimed with a loud yawn. "We better hit the sack. We all have classes in the morning."

"I think you're just sick of losing, Sirius," James joked.

"I WAS _NOT_ LOSING!"

"Whatever. You coming, Remus?"

"Umm," Remus exclaimed, flicking an almost unnoticeable glance in Chevious' direction. "I don't think so. I have a bit more to do."

"How 'bout you, Chev?" Eiez asked

"No. I still have some homework and studying to do. I'll come up soon," Chevious replied

"You all make me sick! All you do is homework and study!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm outta here! It may be contagious! G'night."

"Night," they said in unison.

Everyone else disappeared up the stairs. They were alone in silence. The quiet was almost unbearable. Neither of them said anything. The only thing that could be heard was the scratching of quills on parchment and the turning of pages.

_I wonder what he's thinking....._

She gently eased into his mind, weaving through his concentration on homework. She came upon a single thought that made her slam back into her body in surprise. Sweet bliss washed over her. She smiled slightly. Chevious closed her books and gathered her things.

"Done already?" he asked, a hint of surprise and sadness in his voice.

"Yeah, I need some sleep, so I'm just gonna go to bed." She headed toward the stairwell.

"Oh..... All right, then. I'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah.....Good night."

She backed up against the wall, out of sight. She closed her eyes with pure ecstasy. A smile caressed her lips.

_I love you too, Remus._

----

_Will you come and see me today_

_Well I don't know_

_That's part of the mystery_

----

Chevious sat in the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Quirrel was talking about identification of and defense against vampires. For the first time in all her years at Hogwarts, she was ignoring everything Professor Quirrel was saying. She was too busy subconsciously doodling on her notebook. It was almost covered in random thoughts and pictures by this time, including a terrible drawing of what appeared to be Remus.

She glanced up once in a while to make it look like she was taking notes or to glance at Remus who sat one seat diagonally in front of her. Thoughts of him floated aimlessly through her head. How could she be so head over heels for him?! She had never felt this way before.

The bell sounded. Rustling papers and footsteps of departing students filled the room, breaking her trance. She gathered her own things and left.

The corridor was already packed with students heading back to their Common Rooms to drop their things off before dinner. The busy gossip that filled the hall drowned everything out. She walked slowly, oblivious to what was going on around her. Remus was all she could think about.

She returned to her dorm and dropped all of her stuff off. She walked leisurely toward the Great Hall. The corridor was pretty much empty, except for a few Slytherin girls near the end. They seemed to be talking to chatting and gazing in her general direction. They frowned and whispered as she neared them.

"What's the hurry?" said one of them, blocking her path.

"No hurry," Chevious replied, trying to sop the nervousness creeping into her voice. "My friends are just waiting for me."

"Well, they can wait. We'd like to have a little chat with you."

"Really," she answered, becoming a bit scared now. She couldn't take on all of them at once, even if she had brought her wand. "About what?"

"Ares."

"What about him?"

"We want you to back off."

"What?"

"Aries is mine, and I plan to keep it that way."

"What makes you think I even like Ares?!"

"All he does is talk about the great _Chevious Nogard_. He's head over heels for you and I don't appreciate being knocked off my pedestal by a friggin _MUDBLOOD_!"

She furiously fought back tears of anger and sadness. She couldn't let them see her weakness.

"You're not a pureblood. You shouldn't be able to study among the likes of us. You're a worthless muggleborn who only deserves to live around filthy, disgusting muggles like your father."

Chevious' fists clinched tightly at her side. If she did something about this she'd be the one in trouble. She knew that would just cause more friction between the Gryffindor and Slytherin houses. It was bad enough already. She didn't need to make it worse. She was helpless.

"So, forget about Aries so he can forget about you and everything will be as it should. He doesn't deserve something as disgraceful the magic as a mudblood!"

"Whatever. I don't need to stay here and take this shit."

She turned to leave, almost expecting them to stop her.

"Get out of my sight, Mudblood, before I get really mad."

Chevious turned and walked back toward the Common Room. Once she was out of the sight of the girls, she took off in a full sprint. She reached the Fat Lady without a single encounter with anyone.

"Password, dear?" the Fat Lady asked.

"Zazooum Rakatum," she managed to choke out through her tears.

The Portrait swung open and Chevious bolted into the Common Room. She ran passed Remus, nearly knocking him over.

"Chevious?" he said in surprise.

She flew up the stairs and into her dormitory. She slammed the door and threw herself onto her bed. Tears flowed from her eyes in rivers.

A knock on the door startled her. She wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"GO AWAY!" she screeched.

"Chevious?" Remus' voice was muffled by the large wood door. "Chevious? Are you all right?"

"I'M FINE! GO AWAY!" She laid back down on her bed to cry again.

"Chevious!"

"_I SAID_ _GO AWAY!_"

Despite her yelling, she heard the door creep open behind her. Remus strode across the room and sat down beside his friend. He wiped away the tears on her cheek. She looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy from the crying.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone," Chevious hissed, though internally flattered that her had been so concerned.

"I've always been terrible at listening," Remus replied. "What happened?"

"Nothing. I'm fine," she replied, sitting up.

"So, a tough girl like you is crying over nothing?"

"That's right."

"Liar. Now, what really happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"All right. I'll be in the Common Room if you wanna talk."

He began to get up. Chevious reached over and gripped his wrist tightly, never wanting to let go. He looked down at her with his tired eyes.

"Please stay."

"Always."

He sat back down beside her. Chevious told him everything hat had happened. He remained silent, listening intently. When she had finished, he hugged her. The sweet bliss of his touch sent chills down her spine. He pulled back and cupped his hand around her cheek, wiping away the tears running from her eyes.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked sympathetically.

"I guess. I just can't stand it when a comment is made about my dad. He is the sweetest, funniest, most hard working man you'll ever meet."

"I understand."

He hugged her again. When he pulled back, he stood and offered her his hand.

"Shall we go down to dinner?'

"I guess."

"I'm sure the others will have perfect ideas for pay back."

She took his hand and headed down to dinner.

-------------

"NOGARD! POTTERS! BLACK! ADKINS!" Kettleburn boomed as he crossed the Common Room to where they were sitting. Chevious and Sirius had been playing a game of wizard's chess while the others watched.

"Yes, Professor?" Eiez asked. The others stared curiously.

"I suppose that it's safe to assume that you were the ones who flooded the Slytherin Common Room?"

"Now what makes you say that?" James asked innocently.

"_THIS_!" Kettleburn answered holding up a piece of parchment that read:

_Hope you enjoy your new swimming pool, you slimy gits!_

_Sincerely,_

_Your friendly neighborhood Gryffindors_

"I _told_ you we shouldn't have put that up!" Feathin exclaimed before yelping as Eiez elbowed her in the ribs.

"_FEATHIN!_" Eiez hissed as Feathin massaged her side.

"I rest my case," Kettleburn proclaimed. "Someone _MUST_ pay for this! Therefore, I have assigned you all detention during the Hogsmeade visit Saturday."

"_WHAT?!_" they all shouted.

"That's not fair!" Eiez whined.

"No one ever said life was fair, Miss Adkins! It wasn't fair that the Slytherins had to sleep in the Great Hall while their things were being dried, was it?!" He cleared his throat. "You all will report to the Entrance Hall at 8:00 that morning."

Kettleburn made a hasty exit. They returned the game. Sirius ended up losing to Chevious _AGAIN_ before they all said their goodnights and went up to bed.

----

_Will you come and tell you love me or let me go _

_I guess we'll have to see_

----

The week went by very slowly as the detention loomed ever closer. Chevious had been quite depressed all week. Eiez and Feathin had been looking forward to visiting Zonko's with James and Sirius, so she would have had Remus all to herself. She had planned to go up to the Shrieking Shack where she and Remus could be alone. She had planned to tell him how she had felt, and, hopefully, had the same affection returned. But now that she had to serve detention, Chevious had lost her nerve to do it because she wanted to do it while no one was around.

Saturday arrived and everyone was excited about the Hogsmeade trip. Well, everyone except Chevious, Eiez, Feathin, James, and Sirius considering they weren't going. It had snowed the night before, making them even more miserable. The group sat in anguish while finishing their breakfast.

"Well, well...what have we here?!" came the loathing voice of Lucious Malfoy who was accompanied by his greasy haired friend, Severus Snape.

"Eat slugs," Feathin mumbled, staring at her plate.

"Tsk, tsk. So sorry you have to miss Zonko's sale," gloated Malfoy.

"SALE?!" they all yelled.

"Oh yes. Zonko's is giving everything away at 90 off."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

"Yes, but to bad you'll have to miss the trip. Well, we'd better get going before Zonko's is sold out. Tutaloo!" They turned and walked out of the hall to join everyone else.

"7:50, C'mon guys. Let's go," said Eiez, checking her watch. They went out into the Entrance Hall to wait. They watched the 1st and 2nd years go outside and start a snowball fight.

"This sucks! We should be out there having fun or at Zonko's!" said Feathin.

"Chill! Let's just get this over with so we can go all right," replied Chevious.

Just then, Professor Kettleburn came out of the Great Hall carrying mops, brooms, dust rags, and....A VACCUM!?!?!?!?!

"All right all. Let's go!" he chirped, giving them all something to carry. "Your detention is to clean all the common rooms without magic."

He led them to the Hufflepuff common room. Once inside he turned to them.

"All right, Mr. Potter...you will mop the floor. Eiez and Chevious will dust. Mr. Black will vacuum. Feathin will sweep. Now, I'll be back in a few hours to check on you. You are to make the beds, clean up all the rooms including bathrooms, and start a fire the fireplace. I'll be back in a few hours. If the common room and dorms are spotless you will move on to the next common room. See you then!" he said.

Kettleburn left them to do their jobs. Feathin and James started on the bathrooms and the rest of them started on the 1st year dorms.

-------------

Chevious burst into the bathroom. James and Feathin were leaning against a wall chatting. She ran up to them. She stopped to take a breath. Chevious tapped her friend on the shoulder.

"Feathin," she panted.

"Just a sec, Chev!"

"But Feathin!" she whined.

"Hold on!"

"But Feathin!"

"WHAT?!?!"

"Sirius got his robes stuck in the vacuum!"

"Okay, we'll take care of it in a minute."

"But Feathin!!"

"WHAT?!"

"He's still wearing them!" Feathin's jaw dropped and her eyes grew very wide.

"WHAT?!?!?!"

They ran up to the 3rd year boys' dorm and, sure enough, Sirius was wrestling the vacuum to get his robes out of it. Eiez was to busy laughing to help him. Feathin rolled her eyes. She walked over to the outlet and pulled out the plug.

"Did you try turning it off Sirius?"

"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed with a cheesy smile. "Oops!"

-------------

"I'm whipped!" said Sirius, plopping down into one of the common room armchairs that night. "And we didn't even get to go out in the snow!"

"Stop complaining!" yelled James.

Everyone sat by the fire. Remus come in and joined them.

"Here! I got these for you guys," he said as he handed each of them a bag. "Go on! Open it!"

"OH WOW!! Thanks Rem!" said Eiez.

The bag contained bag of stuff from Zonko's, a bag of sweets form Honeydukes, and a small butterbeer.

"You're the best, Moony," said Sirius. Eiez nudged him in the ribs.

"Moony?!" said Chevious, a little confused.

"I'm really tired too!" Feathin exclaimed, stretching. "Good night all!"

Feathin disappeared up the staircase.

"Me too!" Eiez interjected. She vanished in the same manner that Feathin had.

"Goodnight," Sirius yawned.

"You coming, Remus?" James asked.

"In a minute," Remus replied with a weary smile.

"Suit yourself," Sirius sighed. "Night."

"Night," Chevious replied.

"G'night," Remus said.

Sirius and James made their way up the steps. An awkward silence settled between Remus and Chevious. She could easily tell he wanted to say something important, but couldn't find the words. He just sat beside her, not even glancing up at her as he usually did when they were alone or when no one seemed to be looking.

Curiosity taking hold, Chevious eased slowly into his head. She came across a sealed off portion of his thoughts. No matter how hard she tried, Chevious couldn't break through the mental barrier. She eased back into her own body quite perplexed. What was he trying so hard to hide from her?

"Chevious….I…" he began.

"Yeah?

"I need to tell you something."

"What?"

"I'm…"

"Hey, Chevious." Lily Evans was behind them. "You going up?"

"In a sec. I was talking to Remus."

"Want me to wait for you?"

"Go on, Chev," Remus ordered. "I'm gonna head up too."

"Oh.....ok........night, Rem."

"Night."

----

_You're unpredictable_

_And that keeps me interested_

_But I'd rather have you right here instead_

----

Chevious awoke with a start. Cold sweat covered her skin. She had had another nightmare, but what had it been? Since her dreams usually came true, it was important for her to attempt to remember. She concentrated. She had been alone…..crying…….then……a small pinching sensation on her neck…..and then…a shrill pain had pulsed through her body.

She shivered, finally realizing the balcony door was open. She got up and strode over to the doorway. She stepped on to the cold stone balcony, letting the cool breeze toss her untidy hair. Her bare feet grew numb very quickly, but something had caught her attention. She leaned over the rail. A black dog was prowling across the grounds. Her left eyebrow raised skeptically.

She went back into her room and looked around. Everyone was asleep. She grabbed her cloak and ran out of the castle, being careful enough not to be seen. She crept across the grass in the direction she had seen the dog go.

She spotted him next to the Whomping Willow, which had been a new edition to the school her first year. The dog raced between the its thrashing branches and touched a spot with its paw. The tree froze. A passage opened beneath it. The dog waited and then slid down the hole. The tree sprung back to life.

Chevious looked around for something to throw at the knot the dog had touched. By her foot sat a rock. She picked it up and chucked it at the knot as if it were a Quaffle. Direct hit! Being a chaser had its advantages. She quickly slid down the small hole, landing hard on the dirt floor.

She felt her way along the narrow passageway. It ended abruptly with a set of steps that Chevious nearly tripped over. She climbed them cautiously.

"_Ouch_!" She hissed.

She had hit her head on a trapdoor. She pushed it up slightly, just enough to peer inside. Sirius now stood in the middle of the room. _Where did he come from?_ Remus appeared out of thin air before her very eyes.

"Thanks for coming out here with me tonight, Padfoot," Remus said, sitting down on a ratty looking thing that looked as if it used to be an armchair. It was now reduced to a wooden frame with some fabric on it; there was a bit of stuffing left in it, but most of it was strewn all over the hard, scratched up wood floor.

"No problem, Moony," Sirius replied.

"You'd better transform now. The moon's coming out."

"Right."

Her eyes grew to the size of saucers as Sirius transforms into the shaggy black beast she had followed here. He sat very still for a moment. He barked a few times. Then silence again.

An ear-shattering yelp of pain made her jump. Remus doubled over, falling to his knees. His robes disappeared beneath a growing mass of fur. Her eyes grew even wider, if that was possible. Remus was a werewolf! His nose became longer, growing into a snout. His ears perked up, becoming more wolf-like. The half transformed Remus turned his beady yellow eyes on the trapdoor.

"SIRIUS!" He growled.

The dog turned its gaze to the trapdoor. He yelped in surprise. She had been holding the door a quarter of the way open; just enough for Remus to get out through. Chevious tried desperately to shut the trapdoor, but the ancient hinges were frozen in place and wouldn't budge. The dog leaped in between Remus and the door. He growled viciously, dark hair standing on end.

Remus, now fully transformed, leaped at the trapdoor. Chevious jumped backward, tumbling down a few steps. The trapdoor remained stationary. She could see the shaggy, black dog to fight the wolf back from the opening. To her horror, she saw Remus beat Sirius off of him.

Chevious stood slowly, not quite comprehending what was going on. The wolf's beady eyes were gazing at her from just inside the room. She began to back up slowly. One thought broke through the fear. Run! Chevious turned quickly and took off down the passage, stumbling a few times, nearly falling once or twice.

She burst up through the hole at the base of the Whomping Willow. The icy night air hit her face with brute force. This didn't stop her. She knew she was dead if she stopped running. Footfalls behind her quickened, coming near with every step.

She tripped. Her face hit the dirt, jarring her body. She rolled over, pushing her self backward. The wolf was almost on her. There was no escaping. She screamed. No one seemed to have heard her. Not a single light appeared in the castle windows. Not that it would have mattered. They would never have made it to her in time.

It leaped at her, bearing its teeth, ready to shred her body into tiny pieces. Chevious automatically raised her arms before her face and slammed her eyelids shut, expecting excruciating pain. It never came. She heard Remus yelp.

She lowered her arms to see a magnificent stag poised to attack only a few feet away. His antlers were lowered as if to change at any moment. Remus was getting up off the ground. The stag had thrown him to the side as if he were nothing. The werewolf bounded off into the night.

The stag raised his head. It twisted its head around to face her. As suddenly as it had appeared, The stag changed shape. It was James. His exhausted face frowned at her.

"_WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?"_

"I should ask you the same question," she huffed, finding her voice in an instant.

"_YOU WERE ALMOST KILLED!"_ he shouted.

His usually bright eyes were hard. His expression was unchanging.

"Don't you think I _realized_ that, or do you think I was running away from him _just for kicks_?!'

The dog appeared at James' side, promptly changing back into his human form. Sirius appeared as if he had been thrown into a shredder. Cuts and deep bruises covered his white skin. His breathing came in gasps. His eyes were identical to those of James, hard and furious.

"How did you get into the Shrieking Shack?" he asked sternly.

"Is that where we were?" Chevious replied.

"Answer the question!" James ordered.

"I followed Sirius," she answered.

"How did you get passed the Whomping Willow?" Sirius questioned.

"I saw Sirius press the knot. I just threw a rock at it and went down the hole after him. Why didn't any of you tell me Remus was....a.....a......"

"Werewolf?" Sirius finished. Chevious nodded. "He wouldn't let us say anything. I suppose he was waiting for the right moment to tell you."

"Do Eiez and Feathin know?" Their silence answered her question. "They do, don't they?"

"Yeah. They figured it out. They weren't stupid enough to follow us," James answered.

"Are you calling me _stupid_?!"

"Umm.....yeah, kinda," Sirius replied.

Chevious clinched her fist tightly at her sides. Anger raged in her. Her mind was ready to launch a mental attack on them.

"C'mon, Chev," James said. "I'll give you a ride back up to the castle."

James morphed into his animal form. He lowered himself to the ground, allowing for her to mount. Chevious stood her ground, unmoving, still building up mental power. _They have a point I guess. What kind of an idiot follows a random, possibly diseased, dog? You are stupid for not picking up on it in the first place! Why else would he get sick every month?!_ Chevious allowed the power she had built up to slip away. She reluctantly clambered onto the stag's strong back. James trotted magnificently back up to the castle.

-------------

"Remus?" Chevious said as he entered the Common Room later that week. It was his first day back after the full moon. Chevious had been waiting for him.

"Yeah, Chev?" He looked more exhausted and sickly then usual. She almost forgot all about her anger. Almost.

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure," he replied, sitting down on the couch beside her. Eiez and Feathin glanced up curiously.

"Alone," she added.

Eiez and Feathin moved out of Chevious' sight, though still in ear shot.

"So, what's up?"

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Come again?!" Eiez and Feathin pretended to howl behind Chevious. Remus saw them and got the point. "Oh....."

"_Did you think I was a complete idiot?!_"

"No.....not at all.......I just......"

"You just _what_?!" Anger was rising in her again.

"I just didn't think you'd still be my friend if you knew, ok! I was afraid you'd never talk to me again, let alone even look at me the same way!"

"Did you honestly _think_ I wouldn't find out?!"

"Well, I hoped you wouldn't," he muttered.

"_I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"_

"Chevious, I'm sorry, _okay_! I tried to tell you last week after your detention, but….."

"_BUT WHAT?!_ I couldn't be trusted enough?! Is that it?!"

"Look, I screwed up! Curse me for being afraid you'd walk out of my life forever!"

Chevious was silent for a moment, trying to decide if she was truly mad at him or frustrated with her own stupidity. She rose from her place on the couch. Remus looked up at her, fear in his eyes.

"Well, I guess you made your own fear came true! Goodbye, Remus. Consider our friendship over."

Chevious turned, striding briskly toward the Portrait Hole. Tears were beginning to flow down her cheeks.

"Chevious!" Remus called after her.

"Just leave her alone for a while," Feathin suggested. "Give her some time to cool off. I know she didn't mean anything she said."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Meanwhile, Chevious had found an empty classroom. She sat alone in a dark corner, back to the door. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she sobbed. She had done it again. She had pushed him away, but this time it was for good. She had gone a bit overboard this time. She had let her temper and frustration take over.

"He'll never forgive me," she whispered, mentally scolding herself.

Chevious cringed as the large wooden door creaked open behind her. She didn't even bother to see who had come in.

"Go away, please," she exclaimed. "I wish to be alone."

The person only drew nearer. The person knelt down beside, and rested their large, icy hands on her shoulders. She tried to say something, but her voice caught in her throat. She didn't make a sound. Her body seized up. She was helpless.

"Do not vorry," the person assured her in a thick French accent. He pushed her hair away from her neck, exposing the semi tanned flesh. "Zizz weel be all o-vare in a moment."

A sharp pinching sensation pierced her neck. At first she felt nothing, then, a searing pain surged from her neck to the rest of her body. Her body began to lose feeling. _Remus, I'm sorry._ The classroom around her began to spin. Then……darkness.

----

_You give me_

_Just Enough_

_To keep me holding on_

_Till I'm ready to move on_

_Then you find a way_

_To make your play_

_And then I stay_

----

"Well, Poppy?" Dumbledore began. "What is your diagnosis?"

"I'm afraid it's a….."

"A what?"

"A vampire bite."

"How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood, but she's still alive. Lucky for her Mr. Lupin found her in time. Even so, I'm afraid it would take a miracle for her to survive the night. I've done all I can. All that we able to do now is wait and hope for the best."

Remus listened miserably from the other side of the curtain. He gently gripped Chevious' colorless hand. He gazed at the IV that was pumping blood back into her body. Her breathing was shallow, but it was there. He wasn't going to give up on her. Not yet.

"I'd better get him. Visiting hours are over."

Remus tightened his grip slightly as he watched Madam Pomfrey's silhouette reach for the curtain. He wasn't going to leave her here all alone. She needed him now, more than she ever had.

"Leave him, Poppy," Dumbledore said. "He seems quite upset over the matter. Allow him to stay with her."

"All right, he can stay. I'll get a blanket for him. He mustn't catch cold."

Madam Pomfrey scurried off in the direction of her office. Dumbledore parted the curtains and took a place beside Remus' chair.

"Thank you, Professor."

"You are very welcome, Remus. I'm sure that you overheard what was being said."

"Yes, sir, and this whole thing is all my fault."

"How so? Are you implying that you are a vampire as well as a werewolf?"

"No, no. Nothing like that." Remus sighed. A lonely tear trickled down his cheek. "We got into a fight. She got upset and ran off on her own. I found her in the Transfiguration classroom like this."

"Remus," Dumbledore began, placing a comforting hand on the boy's hunched shoulder. "This is hardly your fault. If it wasn't her, it would probably be someone else lying in that bed, who could possibly even be dead. There was no way you could have prevented…."

"She was upset because I didn't tell her I'm a werewolf," Remus interrupted. He lowered his head, eyes closed. More tears streaked his pare skin, staining the white covers. "She…..She got mad because she thought that I didn't trust her enough to confide in her. We fought, and she stormed out of the Common Room."

"I see."

Madam Pomfrey appeared beside Dumbledore with a warm, fuzzy blue blanket for Remus. She draped it over him.

"Thank you," Remus replied.

"You're welcome, dear. Come, Headmaster. I'll show you out."

"Thank you, Poppy. Good night, Mr. Lupin."

"Goodnight, Professor."

The pair disappeared from view. Remus turned his attention back to the pale, half dead body that lay atop the hospital bed.

"Chevious, I'm so sorry," he confessed. "This is all my fault. If I had just told you, this wouldn't have happened. I can't even imagine a world without you in it. You're all I think about most of the time. The truth is........Chevee......I love you....."

"Mr. Lupin?"

Madam Pomfrey peered in through the curtains. She was now sporting a white terrycloth robe, blue bunny slippers, and her usual nurse's hat.

"Yes, Madam Pomfrey?"

"It's late. Go to sleep."

"All right. G'night."

"Goodnight."

She didn't leave. She stood there until she was sure he was fast asleep. Then, she too went to bed.

-------------

Remus awoke with a start. He bolted upright from the strange position he had fallen asleep in. He stared around frantically. Chevious was gone. Her bed was very untidy and she was nowhere to be found. Remus began to panic. Fear ran rampant through his thoughts. Had the vampire come back for her? Had she died during the night and been taken away without his knowledge? Had she....?

The curtains slid open. Remus whirled around so fast he nearly fell over. Relief washed over him. There she stood Chevious. A few rebel strands of hair were escaping from her twin braids. Her pallid flesh made her beautiful green eyes stand out more than usual. One hand dragged the IV along at her side. The usual smile brightened her tired complexion.

"Chevious!"

Remus threw his arms around his surprised friend. She didn't return it at first, too surprised by spontaneous hug. Her unoccupied arm wrapped around his thin waist.

"Wow!" She exclaimed. "I should go to the bathroom more often!"

"I'm _SO_ glad you're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay! I just went to the bathroom."

Chevious sat down on hospital bed. It was eerie how close the color of her skin was to the sheets.

"Did you get a good look at the vampire?"

"What vampire?"

"You don't remember?!"

"Remember what?!"

"Why your here."

"I have no clue how I got here. The last thing I remember us fighting, and then a severe urge to pee. So, naturally, I got up to go to the bathroom."

"WHOA! Too much information!"

"Sorry. Anyway, why am I here?"

"You were attacked by a vampire after our fight. I found you in the Transfiguration classroom. Madam Pomfrey didn't think you would make it through the night."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Were you here all night?"

Remus blushed slightly. "I was worried about you. Plus, I figured it would make up for our fight."

She smiled. The room seemed to light up in Remus' eyes.

"Chevious, I....."

He allowed himself to lean in. Chevious waited, no objection escaped her lips. Her eyes simply drifted shut.

Without warning, the curtains began to slide open. They both jumped back in surprise. Madam Pomfrey was wheeling in a cart carrying new bags of blood. Her old face brightened when she saw that her patient had roused.

"I'm glad to see you are awake, Miss Nogard," she said. She changed the bag quickly and turned to leave all the while muttering, "A miracle. It's a miracle."

Meanwhile, else where, hooded figure stared at the scene unfolding in his crystal ball. A deep groan escaped his unseen lips.

"She vill be mine."

----

_Just Enough_

_To give me hope_

_That you will fall in love with me_

_Just Enough_

_Just Enough, baby_

----

"Chevious! Your Alive!" yelled Feathin, tackling her friend to the floor.

"It's nice to see you too, Feathin. Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure! Anything!"

"Get off."

"Oh! Sorry!"

Feathin helped Chevious up.

"Thanks."

"Anytime."

"Well, you're just in time for breakfast," Eiez announced.

They made their way down to the Great Hall. It was already filled with people who were eating, chatting, and laughing quite loudly. They took their usual seats by the others.

Loud screeching echoed off the enormous walls. Hundreds of owls flooded into the room. A large snow white bird with hits of gold round her neck and tips of her wings landed in front of Chevious. It was her owl Psyche. A letter was bound to one leg and a newspaper to the other. She handed the paper to Eiez who promptly opened it and began to read. Chevious untied the letter and the owl flew back to the Owlery.

She tore open the letter. It was from her father. It was addressed to her and Eiez, since she had lived with them since their 2nd year. Before that she had lived in an orphanage. Now she was like Chevious' sister. The letter to them read:

_Dear girls,_

_I believe it would be wonderful to have your friend staying with us for Christmas._

_I already sent an owl to his parents to let them know he would be in good hands over the holidays. See you at the Kings Cross in a week._

_Much Love,_

_Dad_

"Hey, Ei," Chevious said. Eiez peered at her over the paper. "What is this all about?"

Eiez folded up the paper and removed the parchment from between Chevious' extended index and middle fingers. She read over it. A smile broke across her face.

"Hey, Rem!"

Remus turned to her. He was munching on a piece on semi burnt toast.

"Pops says you can stay with us over the holidays."

"Great. Thanks."

"What is going on?" Chevious asked, bewildered.

"Remus' parents had to go on a business trip, and, since all of us were going home for the holidays, I invited Remus to stay with us."

"Oh, okay."

"_YES!_" Feathin shouted. She jumped around happily holding a letter from her parents. The all eyed her strangely. "Mom and Balin are planning to take me, Sirius, and James with them to Spain on holiday!"

Chevious remembered when Feathin's parents split. She took it pretty hard. About a year later, her mom got remarried to James' dad.

"Sounds like fun," Peter replied.

"Yeah! I can't wait to go!"

"Ditto. When do we leave?" James asked.

"Says here they'll be here in three days to pick us up."

"_YES!_ Only a few more days of classes! This break can't get any better!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

"How 'bout the rest of you?"

"I have to go stay with my grandmother," Peter sighed. "My parents are taking 'the kid free weekend they always wanted' in Ireland."

"What about you, Lil'?"

"I have to brave the break alone with Petunia at Aunt Violet's place."

"I feel sorry for you," Feathin exclaimed. "You sister has to be _the worst_ muggle of them all!"

Chevious eyed her loathingly. "Not that their all TERRIBLE!" she added quickly.

"I wouldn't doubt that she is," Lily joked.

-------------

Chevious scanned the crowds of Platforms 9 and 10 for her father. Remus sat on his ice cold trolley fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket. Eiez was sitting on her trunk reading some romance story she had picked up in Hogsmeade on one of their not exactly authorized trips. Psyche chattered loudly in her cage. The muggles on the platform eyed them suspiciously.

"Where is he?!" Eiez asked, annoyed by the fact Mr. Nogard was late.

"There he is!" Chevious announced, pointing at a short, balding man striding toward them.

The man was at most 5'2". The little hair he had was dark brown. His blue eyes were hidden behind a pair of wire framed reading glasses. He was a bit on the plump side, but he wasn't exactly fat. He wore a beige suit and a red tie that had golden snitches on it. He was often asked about it at work, but he always told them it was one of the balls used to play a game his daughters had learned at school and nothing more.

"DAD!" Chevious shouted as she threw her arms around him in welcome.

"Hey," Mr. Nogard replied, returning her hug.

"Hi, Pops," Eiez chirped, giving him a hug as well.

Mr. Nogard's eye twitched slightly. Eiez loved to call him Pops. He got so annoyed by it that it was hilarious because he'd never say anything to her about it.

"This must be Remus," he said, extending his hand to him. "I'm Chevious' father."

"I figured." They shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Nogard."

"Now then, shall we go?"

Chevious, Eiez, and Remus followed Mr. Nogard with their trolleys. They stopped behind an old station wagon. They tossed everything in the back and climbed into the car. The group drove for hours until they reached a cozy two story cottage outside of Middleton. It was painted white with light blue shutters. A large garden surrounded it, though no flowers were in bloom since it was obviously December. A narrow, curving sidewalk led up to the large white door.

The group lugged their luggage inside and dropped it in the foyer. Mr. Nogard turned to them.

"Well, why don't you both show Remus around. I'll take care of the trunks."

"Are you sure, Dad?" Chevious asked. "That can wait. We should help you."

"It's fine. Go on."

"I'll stay and help Pops out. You go ahead and show him the place."

"All right…..If you say so. C'mon, Remus."

Remus followed Chevious down a narrow hallway. The walls were lined with pictures. Remus stopped and looked up at a few. There was one he recognized not to high up. Chevious and Eiez had brought a few rolls of film and a camera with them after the holiday break two years ago. They had taken pictures of all of them so that Mr. and Mrs. Nogard could see who they had made friends with. This particular picture was of all of them making faces at the camera. He chuckled. Others included baby Chevious playing in the sand at some beach, two family portraits (one with and one without Eiez. The one without was taken when Chevious was about 7 it looked like), and one of the day Eiez moved in; the photo showed Eiez and Chevious lugging her things from the car.

"Remus, are you coming?" Chevious stared at him from the end of the hall.

"Yeah."

He strolled down to meet her. They were standing at one end of a small peach painted room. A tiny, circular table sat in the middle of it. Five shabby looking chairs sat around it.

"As you can see, this is the kitchen. Its pretty much every person for themselves when it comes to meals, except on Christmas Day or on the rare occasion Eiez decides to cook."

She turned and moved on to the adjacent room. A large entertainment center sat in front of a large, dilapidated, shell colored couch. A large video collection sat on the left side of the entertainment center while a large music collection sat on the right side. A large window ran the length of the only other available wall. The forest green plush carpet didn't really match the bluish-off white walls too well. In fact, nothing in the room matched even remotely.

"This is our family room. It is, by far, the ugliest room the house, but Eiez and I hang out in here most the time. You can do pretty much anything ya want to in here." _I have a pretty good idea of what I wanna do in here_, Remus couldn't help but think.

After he mentally slapped himself, he followed Chevious back into the kitchen. They crossed it and entered another hallway. Only three rooms branched off of this hall. They didn't really enter any of them. One was a classy, old fashioned dining room. It was very plain, containing only an enormous table with numerous chairs around it and a china cabinet. Some photographs adored the light, flowered wallpaper along with some wall lamps. Another was to living room. It contained a large beige sofa with gigantic pillows, two matching armchairs sitting catty-cornered next to each other facing the couch, and an oval shaped mahogany coffee table. The final room was just a bathroom.

They wandered to the end of the corridor and entered the foyer once again. The traveled up a somewhat wide, two flight, carpeted staircase. At the top was a large hallway that ran the length of the house. The staircase was set in the very center of one of the enclosing walls. Chevious spun around to face him.

"Down that way," she began, gesturing to her right (for those that aren't the brightest crayon in the box, that's Remus' left), "Is my room, Eiez's room, and my dad's office." Remus peered down the hall. A large rectangular window looking out over the countryside away from town adorned the dead end wall. "And down there, is Dad's room, the bathroom, and your room." She gestured to her left.

Chevious started down the hall to her left. "Shall we?" she asked over her shoulder.

At the very end of the hall Chevious opened an off white door. Inside the room, a queen sized bed sat up against the left hand wall. Sunlight streamed in from the rather large window across from where they was standing. His trunk sat beneath it.

"This is your room. The bathroom is the just down the hall."

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"Letting me stay with you for Christmas."

He stepped closer to her. His eyes stared into hers, causing her heart to beat rapidly in her chest.

"Not a problem. Anything to help a friend out."

He stopped his advance. "Yeah…anything for….a friend." He sat down his bed and stared at her for a moment before looking out the window, trying to hide his rejected expression.

-------------

8:00 a.m., December 23, two days before Christmas. Chevious lay sleeping soundly in her full size plush bed. The purple fuzzy sheets creased under the weight of her body as she rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in her feather pillow. Small rays of winter sunlight snuck through her blinds and highlighted her deep blue walls. A tiny black kitten named Jezella curled up on a cushy round chair filled with pillows. Such a peaceful December morning….little did she know what was about to happen.

Remus tiptoed down the long hall of the upper floor of Chevious' home. He walked quietly past the bathroom, but stopped a moment to listen. Running water echoed off the walls and through the small crack in the door. Knowing Chevious wouldn't be up so soon, he assumed it was Eiez, and carried on to Chevious' room. He tentatively reached out for the brass door knob on a brightly colored purple and midnight blue door. Slowly, he pushed the door open and winced as it made a creaking noise so loud he thought the plaster would fall from the ceiling. Remus had just awoken himself, and was feeling the chilly air quite well considering he was only in his boxers. They were quite adorable actually. Tiny strands of Christmas lights that actually blinked decorated the black silky fabric. They had been a gift form his mother the year before. Remus was almost embarrassed about them, but then again, after being friends with Sirius, nothing could embarrass him anymore. He grinned as he saw a mass of beautiful flesh covered in fuzzy purple blankets. He quietly tiptoed over the squeaky floor boards and sat down on the edge of Chevious' bed. A few strands of chestnut brown hair had escaped her ponytail and fell into her face. Remus smiled, and brushed the strands away from her face. Chevious stirred and rolled over to face Remus. Upon feeling an intense stare, Chevious awoke.

"Remus?" she said groggily.

"Wake up sleepy head." Remus grinned.

Chevious sat up, stretched, and yawned quite loudly. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Oh…well…" Remus blushed; he didn't very well want to say he couldn't wait to see her. "I was thirsty."

Chevious looked a little down. "Oh."

They sat in silence for what seemed like forever, both gazing at each other, and then looking away again.

"Remus, I…" Chevious began.

"Chevee, I have to tell you…" Remus began at the same time.

They both grinned. "Ladies first," Remus said.

"Well, Remus, I just wanted to tell you that…it means a lot to have you here for Christmas. And…I love you." There. She had said it. No going back now. "I've loved you ever since I talked to you before getting on the train my first day at Hogwarts. I loved seeing you everyday. Even when you looked tired and downtrodden all I wanted to do was reach out to you and make it all go away. When I saw you transform into a werewolf…I wasn't appalled. I felt your pain as you howled away into the night, and I wanted nothing more than to pull you close and stop your pain. I guess I just wanted to tell you that you mean an awful lot to me…and it took me a while to realize this, but I love you, Remus," Chevious blurted out in one burst of emotion that she had been holding back for so many years.

Remus just sat there, awestruck, not uttering a word.

Chevious mistook his silence for the answer no. She looked down at her fuzzy comforter. "I'm sorry. I just shouldn't have said anything. I knew you didn't feel the same…" Tears clouded her vision, and a lonely tear drop flattened a patch of purple fuzz.

Remus saw the lone tear escape. He reached out his hand and lifted Chevious' head so that her eyes met his. Tears were flowing steadily down her cheeks now. "You," Remus began, "have no idea how long I have been waiting to hear that."

Chevious' eyes instantly brightened. A smile sprang across her face like the sun rising on a gloomy day. Remus used his thumb to wipe a tear off her cheek. "I guess what I'm trying to say, Chevee, is that I love you too." She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Remus was the first to pull away. He gazed into her eyes. His head slowly drifted forward. Their lips were millimeters apart when Chevious' door burst open. Remus dove under her bed in one swift movement. At Chevious' door stood Eiez. Her long, curly, red hair sopping wet and her short form wrapped in a fluffy light yellow towel. She was mad as a hornet. And a wet hornet at that.

"_WHERE IS MY PINK BUNNY UNDERWEAR?!_" she bellowed. For such a small person, she could make an awful amount of noise.

The look on Chevious' face went from shocked to annoyed. "How many times must we go over this?! I DON'T _HAVE_ YOUR PINK BUNNY UNDERWEAR!"

Eiez didn't seem convinced. "I KNOW YOU TOOK THEM! YOU'VE BEEN EYEING THEM UP EVER SINCE SIRIUS GAVE THEM TO ME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY! AND I KNOW THAT YOU WANTED CHANGE THE MESSAGE ON THERE TO SAY 'LOVE REMUS' INSTEAD OF 'LOVE SIRIUS'!"

Chevious was at a loss for words. Eiez was speaking of the adorable knickers Sirius had gotten her for Valentine's Day. They were pink with fluffy bunnies that were enchanted to hop around. There were sparkly red words on the front that read 'Love Sirius.' She had to admit they were cute, and Eiez loved them to death. She wanted to wear them today on account that Sirius was coming to visit. In a flash, Eiez had rushed over to Chevious dresser and began to throw open drawers. She pulled open Chevious' knickers drawer and began tossing brightly colored pieces of fabric all over the room. From under the bed, Remus watched. He was seeing too much of Eiez that he never wanted to see. A pretty pair of red lace undies flew from Eiez's hand and landed right smack on Remus' nose. He blushed a beautiful crimson color. Remus plucked the lacy thing off his nose. On the front, kind of down low, was one word, 'Remus.' There was a tiny silhouette of a curvy girl on it who strutted around and blew kisses every now and then. Remus grinned like a madman (a habit he had picked from Sirius, no doubt) and laughed silently to himself. Eiez continued her ranting for a few more minutes. She raided every nook in Chevious' room, until she gave one last glare and stormed out, slamming the door behind her. Chevious laughed.

"You can come out now!" Chevious called.

Remus clambered out from under her bed. He had a smug grin on his face. On his index finger he twirled the pair of lacy, red undies. Chevious' mouth dropped to the floor and she turned redder than Eiez's hair.

"AHHH! Where did you get those?!"

"they landed on my nose." Remus grinned. "So, what' the deal with this?" Remus asked while pointing to the sparkly black 'Remus' on them.

"Well, Eiez and I were bored one weekend over summer break and we decided to have a Little fun with Mom's enchanted sewing machine. We each made knickers that were enchanted to say our deepest desires. In the end, Eiez's ended up saying 'Sirius' and mine….well….you can read…" Chevious trailed off.

"I see…" grinned Remus. He sauntered over to Chevious. He cupped her cheek in his hand. "Maybe you wouldn't mind modeling them for me sometime," he said suggestively.

-------------

The doorbell broke through the air that was thick with the smells of roasting turkey and baking rolls. Chevious and Eiez listen from their positions cooking in the kitchens as to who had arrived. The voices were muffled by the people already chattering in the living room.

"I'll go see who's here," Eiez proclaimed. She cleaned off her hands, removed her apron and disappeared down the corridor.

Without warning, a pair of arms encircled her waist. Chevious glanced up from the mashed potatoes she was making to see Remus standing behind her. A small smile danced across her lips. He rested her chin on her shoulder.

"Hey," she cooed.

"Hey," he replied.

"Who's here?"

"Sirius and Peter."

"Lemme guess. Eiez is saying hi."

"Yeah, in a way."

"I see. Are you in here to help."

"Hell no! I can't cook worth crap."

Chevious laughed. He pulled her closer to him. She felt is lips brush against her neck. The sweet sensation of his touch made her knees weak. They rocked slightly from side to side.

Someone cleared their throat behind them. Eiez was leaning against the doorframe. Her left eyebrow twitched slightly. A smile spread slowly across her face.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Remus pulled reluctantly away from her. They glanced at each other. Eiez just stared at the pair silently waiting for either of them to answer.

"Well, ummmm….I'd better go say hi to Sirius and Peter," Remus exclaimed. He brushed past Eiez. He gazed back at Chevious for a moment. Then, he made his way down the hall toward the living room.

"Well?" Eiez asked.

"Well what?" Chevious replied, turning back to the potatoes she had left forgotten on the stove.

"What was that?" Eiez asked, taking her place beside her. She began stirring the gravy and doing varies other things around the kitchen.

"What was what?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me? I'm better at it! I saw you and Remus getting a little friendly."

"Well…."

"Girls!" Mr. Nogard called.

"Yeah, Pops?!" Eiez replied.

"Come out here and say hello!"

"Be right there, Dad!" Chevious yelled back.

"We'll finish this later," Eiez stated.

-------------

New Years Eve, 11:55 p.m.

Remus lounged on the couch in the family room. Chevious was snuggled up next to him. His arm was draped around her shoulders. Eiez was finishing off a batch of chocolate chip cookies she had baking. Sirius lay sprawled on the floor. James and Lily cuddled up on the floor by the window. Peter twiddled his thumbs. Feathin was helping, or at least attempting to help, Eiez with the cookies. The New Years Celebration was being broadcasted via satellite. Everyone's eyes were glued to the tele.

"The year 1979 is almost upon us, ladies and gentlemen," the announcer declared. "There is only five more minutes left of 1978."

"Where has the time gone?" Eiez sighed as she and Feathin appeared with the cookies.

"Yeah," Feathin agreed. "Seems like just yesterday we were first years."

Like vultures, everyone grabbed at least 3 cookies and devoured them.

"It's hard to believe we're graduating in June," James added.

"YES!" Sirius exclaimed. "Almost free!"

"Oh can it, Sirius!" Lily scolded. "Graduation is supposed to be a sad time."

"Only Sirius could be happy about graduation," Peter laughed.

"Yeah," Remus joked, "He practically has his own drawer in Filch's 'rule violators' cabinet along with a wanted poster."

"With a very unattractive picture, I might add," Sirius jested, making a super-modelish pose and batting his eyes. Everyone laughed.

"This is it ladies and gentlemen! Only one minute left in 1978!" the television announced.

The friends silenced as the crowd on TV counted the seconds.

.....Thirty seconds....

Remus looked down at Chevious. A sweet smile lingered on his lips. 'I love you,' he mouthed.

.....Fifteen seconds....

His head drifted forward.

.....Five.....

Chevious' heart pumped vigorously in her chest.

....Three...

Her eyelids slid shut.

.....Two....

Every cell in her body hummed with anticipation.

.....One....

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" everyone shouted.

Remus' lips were on hers in a passionate kiss. Sweet ecstasy coursed through her veins. His hand caressed her neck, pushing her hair back. Shivers danced up and down her spine. Time seemed to stop all around them.

Reluctantly, Chevious and Remus pulled back, allowing the moment to slip away. All around them, their friends stared on with smug and relieved expression. Applause broke out. The pair could do nothing but blush and smile at everyone, as well as each other.

-------------

"_Curze 'im!_"

The cloaked figure pushed his crystal ball off the table on which it had been sitting. The glass orb was catapulted into the cold stone wall, shattering it into a million pieces. His slammed a pale fist down on the ancient table.

The figure rose. He sauntered out onto the adjoining balcony. He pulled back his hood. A blast a white blonde hair emerged. His boyish complexion was as white as the snow upon the ground. His piercing, icy blue eyes stared out into the cold night. A gold earring gleamed in the light from the torches that adorned the doorway.

"She will be mine...."


	2. Part Two

**A/N:** I would like to thank all my reviewers for being patient and supportive. I would also like to thank my friends for their…erm…motivation. Once again, I obviously don't own any songs used in this fic. They belong to their respective writers. Finally, to appease readers like myself, there will be no cliffhanger in this version. Thank Eiez, she wrote the ending! Okay, I've done my shpeel!

**Co-Authors Note:** Hello all! Eiez here! I'd just like to say that I am really proud to have my name affiliated with this story. I started as just helping out Chevee and writing down a few scenes for her in her time of writing defectiveness, and eventually we began collaborating on the whole story overall. Even though I helped crank some big scenes out, the genius and brilliance of the plot came entirely from Chevious' dusty (ha-ha j/k) mind. This story really is her baby and I just changed its diaper when it was necessary!

----

_**Oh, Oh**_

_**I keep thinking in the back of my mind**_

_**I'm losing sleep**_

_**I'm losing time**_

_**But I just keep on falling**_

_**I'm falling**_

_**I'm falling**_

-----

Chevious thumbed through the ancient creme pages of a book entitled _Vampires of the Ages_. She was reading by wand light atop her four-poster bed. Another attack had occurred over the holidays. A 7th year Ravenclaw named Xia had been found in the middle of the Charms corridor, still alive but just barely. The school was in total lock down. No classes were left unattended and teachers stood in the hallways during transitions. Venturing out on your own was unheard of; students traveled in tightly knit groups, holding their wand at the ready.

She stopped abruptly and scanned the page again. Shock slowly crept across for face with every word.

"_No frigging way!"_ Chevious hissed to herself. She tore the ancient paper from its binding. Her eyes flicked over it once more in disbelief.

A loud creak echoed through the darkness and her head snapped up. The balcony doors were wide open. Chevious raised a skeptical eyebrow. She dropped the forgotten sheet to the floor, and stood slowly, her eyes emerald green eyes scanning the darkness for signs of movement. The cold January air flooded into the room, and Chevious shivered unexpectedly as she pushed the doors shut.

Suddenly, a pale hand clamped down over her mouth, and she froze. Something wasn't allowing her to move or make a single sound. Sleep crept over her, and darkness fell upon her eyes.

----

Remus stretched and yawned loudly as he descended the spiral staircase that led to the Common Room the next morning. The Common Room was filled with people. They all seemed upset, though no one spoke very much. All in the room seemed shocked and scared. Some cried. Some were silent. _Okay…_

He found Feathin sitting on the floor by the fire. She was crying hysterically as James tried desperately to calm her and Lily at the same time. Eiez sat on the couch, her head buried in Sirius' chest. She only seemed to cry harder as Sirius rocked her gently and whispered in her ear.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, quite bewildered. "What's the matter with everyone?"

Eiez, Feathin, and Lily only cried harder, if that was humanly possible.

"I'm sorry, Rem," Sirius replied sincerely.

"Sorry for what?! What's going on?!"

"Chevious…. is…is….." Eiez stammered, tears flowing from her eyes. He couldn't help thinking that she would wash the millions of freckles off her face if she kept this crying up

"Gone…" Feathin whimpered.

This is where he shouldn't freak out so suddenly, he should gradually freak out, kind of like this

Remus stared for a minute at Feathin. "She's gone? Did she go home?"

"Rem…" James started. "She was… kidnapped."

Remus' eyes widened in disbelief and then a look of realization came over his face.

"Ha ha, you guys, very funny. You got me. I knew you'd get me back for that prank last week. Really, how much did you have to pay all these people to act like this?"

Eiez began to sob even harder.

"Remus. We're not joking…" Sirius whispered.

Remus stood there for a second, soaking it all in. He looked around at everyone.

"This isn't happening…" he muttered. "This isn't happening."

He closed his eyes hard and when he opened them again he looked around frantically, as though expecting to Chevious sitting by the fire, walking down the stairs, playing chess… anything. His expectation was let down.

"Where is she? WHO TOOK HER?" Tears glistened in Remus' eyes.

Eiez sniffled. She reached her tiny hand into the pocket of her robes. It emerged holding a torn page from a book. She offered it to him. "We found this on the floor this morning after we realized that she was gone."

Remus scanned the delicate parchment. His eyes widened. It read:

_Of all the vampires of old, the most infamous bloodline is the Alucard family. During the Renaissance period (exact date unknown), Chandler Alucard was bitten by Nathalie Dubois, thus starting the only family of vampires in history. Through the ages, the Alucard line has become smaller and smaller as more magic folk, as well as muggles, become aware of protection against them._

_The Alucard men and women choose their mate, a virgin, by the age of 17. They tend to become obsessed with making that person fall in love with them. Love potions and spells made this easier, but as awareness grew, it became much harder to get away with. Once bitten and bedded, the mate is binded to that Alucard for all eternity. If this does not occur by midnight on their 18th birthday, the vampire would be forced to wander the earth in torment until the one he loved ended his life or he ended theirs. Only then will his torment cease and he or she will be welcomed back into the family._

_For centuries, the Alucards have resided at the castle known as Aeternita in northern France. This ancient structure was established by Claude and Avalon Alucard in 1596. Generations of vampires have lived there over the years. Many slayers have died in this evil fortress. Not one known person has come out alive, or human._

"Oh my god!" Remus whispered, barely audible. "No… no… NO… NO!!!!" He threw the paper to the floor. "NO!!!!!!!!!" He began to run back up to his dormitory throwing over anything in his path. Glass shattered and tables broke as they were tossed to the floor in rage.

----

Chevious struggled against the rusty chains binding her to that cold stone wall. The clanking of mental echoed off the tower walls.

"Don't vaste your time. Zare'z an unbreakable curze on zem."

Ares Alucard leaned against the door frame across from her. Two sharp teeth curved over his bottom lip, gleaming in the dull torchlight. Chills of fear ran down her back as he approached her. He stopped. Terror pumped through her veins as his icy hand caressed her cheek.

"Somezing ze matter, my love?" he asked. A hungry look flickered across his face. She looked away spitefully. "Do speak up."

He poked her stomach with his wand and mumbled something in French. Something thrust into her body. The world around her began to spin. When everything came back into focus, Ares smirked triumphantly.

"No…nothing….nothing at all," she voice replied. She had lost control of her voice.

The shackles around her wrists and ankles unlocked. Chevious fell weakly into Ares' arms. He stood her up. _I need to get away,_ she thought. She willed her legs to move, but they would not. She had no control of her body as well. Ares' hungry eyes glanced at her bare neck. _No._ His cold hand caressed her cheek. He lowered his head to her neck.

"Now, ve shall be togezer for all eternity," he whispered triumphantly in her ear.

A silent tear ran down her cheek. She closed her eyes, waiting for his sharp fangs to piece her skin.

"Remus…" she whispered, another tear escaping her eye.

Ares raised his head in surprise, fire in his eyes. "_Remus!_" he hissed.

"You called?" Ares whirled around, forgetting all about his awaiting prey. Remus stood before him, cross tightly gripped in his hand. He was flanked by James, Sirius, Lily, Eiez, and Feathin, all armed with their wands at the ready. "Let her go, Ares."

"Vhy should I do zat vhen she iz in love vith me?"

"She could never love you!" Eiez proclaimed.

"Vhy not?!" Ares asked, interestedly.

"Because she loves Remus," Eiez answered. "Always has…Always will."

"She lovez 'im?" Ares asked, pointing at Remus.

"Open your ears, albino boy!" Sirius snapped. "That's what the lady said!"

"Zat's impossible!" Ares replied. "She lovez me! Ask 'er your zelvez."

Remus looked over to her. Chevious stood completely still. Her eyes remained fixed on the group. She looked like Chevious, but something about her didn't seem right. She almost looked drugged.

"What did you do to her?!" Remus shouted.

"Chevious," Ares began, completely ignoring his question, "who do you love?"

"You, Ares. Only you," Her voice replied. She went to his side, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head on his side._ NO! That's not true! _She thought. _I have to fight the spell he put on me! He may have control of my body, but he has no control over my mind!_

Remus appeared shocked at first. Rejection quickly crept onto his face. She didn't love him. His heart dropped, breaking into a thousand pieces as it hit the floor. Everything they had shared was a lie..._everything_. Everyone around him was still taking in what she had said.

A familiar fizzy feeling flew into his head. _Remus, it's not true! I love only you! I always have! He put a spell on me! I don't have control over my heart!_ Relief washed over him. His rejection was replaced with a smirk.

"You know, Ares," Remus began, "you really need to work on your control spells."

"Vhat do you mean?!"

"Next time, make sure you add _complete_ mind control." He raised his wand. "Defaites!"

A blast of blue-silver light erupted from the wand tip. It hit Chevious in the chest, throwing her backwards against the wall. She fell to the floor facedown. Ares' face contorted as he turned to the limp figure upon the floor. His hand raised and so did her body. He guided it to the balcony. She floated outside and hovered over the ground. He looked back to Remus, a sinister smirk lighting his wicked face.

"If I can't 'ave 'er, no vone vill!"

"No!" Remus proclaimed with sudden realization. He rushed for the door.

Ares arm fell to his side. Chevious quickly disappeared from sight, plummeting lifelessly toward the frozen ground below. Remus leaned over the balcony, hoping his plan would work.

"Levatos!"

Chevious stopped only feet from the ground. She rose back up to the balcony where Remus pulled her to safety. He laid her against the door frame. Blood trickled down her forehead from a large scrap near her hairline. Feathin, James, and Sirius rushed over them.

"Is she…?" Feathin began.

"She's fine, just knocked out," Remus replied.

A loud shriek made everyone jump. Ares had his strong arm wrapped around Eiez in such a way that she was unable to escape. His other arm held her head cocked to one side, exposing her pale, freckled neck. His teeth were poised to bite.

"Back avay from 'er!" He commanded. They did as they were told. They moved to where they had entered. Ares backed Eiez up until they were by the doors to the balcony. "Very good."

"Sirius!" Eiez shrieked. "Do _something!_"

"Make vone move 'nd you can zay good bye to your friend!"

"Eiez!" Sirius shouted, toward her.

Ares opened his mouth wider and pressed his teeth into the freckled flesh a little harder, creating small indents, yet never fully piercing her skin. "I said _no vone move_."

Sirius stopped abruptly feet from the pair. His thoughts were scrambled and his voice failed him. He was about to lose another person he loved and couldn't do anything about it.

"Vell, now….ziz iz vonderful. I get both Chevious and a snack." He smirked as he lowered his head to Eiez's neck once again.

A loud crack echoed off the walls. Ares fell to the floor. Eiez stood petrified. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. She slowly turned to look behind her. Chevious stood there holding a torch like a beater's club. Her breathing was shallow gasps. Her angry eyes stared at Ares for a moment, and then looked up at Eiez.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Chevious!" Eiez shouted. She pulled her friend into hug. Actually, it was more like she was trying to squeeze her to death.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Bruises!" Chevious shouted.

"Oh! Sorry!" Eiez released her.

"Can we go home now?!" Feathin asked. "I'm starving!"

----

_**Oh, oh  
It gets harder to define  
In my heart and in my mind  
I know  
I know I should let you go**_

**_----_**

The snow came and went and eventually the magic of Christmas was left far behind in Chevious' memories. The days were getting slightly warmer and the castle was abuzz with the flighty feelings of love as Valentines Day approached. Notes were being passed between lovers pens and secret gifts began popping up all over the castle grounds. Love was certainly in the air... for most that is.

Chevious opened the large iron door leading into the 7th year girl's dorms and stepped inside. She was followed by Eiez who chattered happily about Valentine's Day and Sirius, never noticing the disinterested and pained look dancing on her best friends face. A loud gasp came from Eiez's lips in a burst of air.

"Chevious!" Eiez elbowed her in the ribs, "look!"

Chevious looked away from the floor and suppressed a gasp. The entire room was covered in white and pink roses. They were on anything that would stand still, and rose petals seemed to have blossomed out under Eiez's feet as she moved towards her bed. The air was heavy with a fragrant scent and shimmered in the lights as they changed. Eiez giggled like a little school girl and threw herself onto her bed where a flurry of petals rained down upon her. A moment later Eiez thrust some form of paper into Chevious' hands.

"Read it!" She exclaimed.

_My Dearest Maiden, Eiez,_

_It would greatly please me if you would accompany me to the little village of Hogsmeade tomorrow afternoon for fine dining and entertainment. I await your response with eager ears._

_Yours truly,_

_Sir Sirius Nathaniel Black I_

"Wow." Chevious stated monotonously, "I'm really happy for you, Eiez, really." She handed the letter back and turned to her bed.

"No you're not, what's up?" Eiez asked, flopping back onto her bed once more (sending more petals and sparkles into the air).

"Nothing is wrong," Chevious said in a strained voice as she moved a huge bouquet of roses off her nightstand.

Eiez narrowed her eyes and studied Chevious, "Liar. I know you better than that."

"Fine!" Chevious spun around to face Eiez. "You want to know what's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! Ever since January Remus has been avoiding me. He has barely even said hi to me and he won't look at me. I can't even get into his mind anymore! He admitted to loving me but he avoids me at all costs! Do you know how hard that is?!" Chevious paused here and glanced around the room at the flowers everywhere. "Obviously not," She concluded bitterly. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes threatening to spill over at any moment. Instead of crying, however, she sneezed from all of the glitter that had gone up her nose.

Eiez simply stared on, a bit shocked at her friend's sudden outburst of emotions. Then a grin crossed her face like lightning, "I know just what you need!"

Chevious looked up, a little scared at what Eiez was about to say and the grin she had.

"_CHEESECAKE!"_ Eiez declared.

In a swift movement Eiez had clamped a mini hand on Chevious' arm and proceeded in dragging her down to the kitchens.

Down in the common room Sirius was lounging by the fire with James as Eiez and Chevious hurried by. They rushed out the portrait hole in a flash.

"Look!" Sirius said exasperated. "I went through all that trouble and not even a simple tha--"

Sirius was cut off as Eiez appeared next to him; she planted a kiss on his stubbly cheek. "Thank you!" She exclaimed before disappearing again.

"She better be thanking me. I took five showers in the last hour and look!" Sirius ran his hands through his long, dark hair and in instant sparkles were shimmering through the light the flames produced. "I am still sparkly! I will be shedding sparkles for months to come! Damnit! I have one in my eye! I'm a flaming sparkle pixie!"

James collapsed onto the floor in hysterics and then began to cough violently as he inhaled sparkles through his nose.

----

"So, he's completely avoiding you?" Eiez questioned through a mouthful of cheesecake.

"Uh huh," Chevious replied somberly. "He always bolts out of classes at the bell. I saw him take the long route to charms once because the usual corridor also leads to the North Tower. Even for the same classes he'll take another route and sit a the very front because we always sit in the back. He doesn't stay in the Common Room for more than five seconds if I'm there. He doesn't look at me unless he's forced to. I can hardly get a hello out of him as we pass in the Great Hall. Over Christmas, we couldn't be separated. And he was so sweet too." She passed to take a bit of her own cheesecake.

"Okay, now you _have_ to spill," Eiez ordered interestedly.

"Well, we took walks around sunset, just before the streetlights would come on. We laid on the couch in the family room for hours together, just talking. He made a candlelit dinner for me one night when you were with Sirius and Dad was working. He was so romantic. He even got me this for Christmas." Chevious pulled out a thin gold chain out of her shirt. A small, golden heart locket hung on it. Elegant curls of etching embellished the front of it. A tiny piece of ruby, about the size of the head of a straight pin, was embedded in the center. It was simple, but gorgeous all the same.

"Wow," Eiez gasped. "It's beautiful!"

Chevious tucked the locket back into her shirt. "Yeah, I know." She blushed.

"What kind of guy would give you that, then avoid you?"

"That's what I don't understand! He was so affectionate until January, but then he just...stopped." She paused for a moment, as if an unacknowledged thought had made itself known. It seemed to upset her again. "Could there be someone else?"

Eiez nearly spit out her cheesecake. Little pieces landed on the table in front of her and she sheepishly wiped them off with her sleeve. She looked up her friend, trying to find some hint of a joke. Her face remained fixed and questioning. She was completely serious. _"You don't honestly think that, do you?!" _

Chevious said nothing for a moment, tears threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. "I don't know what to think anymore."

Eiez grasped her shoulders and looked her in to eye. "Now you listen to me," she said reassuringly. "There is no way Remus would do that to you. He has been in love with you for a long time, and now he has you. I honestly don't believe Remus would give up his chance to be your everything. You're his entire world, Chev. He never stops thinking about you. Have you seen his note books? There are doodles all over it about you. Random thoughts, compliments he wants to tell you, for Christ's sake, he has a list of the things that make you smile folded up in his bag."

"How do you know all this?" Chevious asked, feeling better and better as Eiez continued.

"Let's just say I have my sources."

"Sirius found it, didn't he?!"

"Well, yeah, but the point is, he is absolutely head over heels in love with you, Chevee, and I think you guys need to talk about it."

"Thanks, E. I needed that."

"I know!" Eiez smiled and they continued to chomp down on their cheesecake.

----

"I am so ready to get out of this bloody castle," Lily exclaimed as she, Chevious, and James filed into the Entrance Hall, ready to leave for Hogsmeade.

"I really shouldn't tag along," Chevious proclaimed. "It's Valentine's Day. Don't you two have something planned."

"Well, actually--" James began., but was cut off when Lily "accidentally" stepped on his foot. "No we were just going to hang out."

"Well, if you two ever want to be alone, feel free to tell me to shove off."

"Don't worry about it."

"I could just stay here with Feathin. I mean I have a lot of studying to do for the N.E.W.T.s. They're only a few months away and--"

"Don't even start!" James commanded. "Your going whether you like it or not."

"Okay, okay. No need to bite my head off, Potter."

----

"_There you are!"_ Lily exclaimed as she and James climbed the hill up to the Shrieking Shack. Chevious sat mournfully on the curb, back to the looming structure she knew all too well. She quickly swiped the tears from her cheeks and looked up at the pair coming toward her.

"Hey," Chevious sighed. She looked down at her hands as she fiddled with her gloves. "I just thought you guys could use some alone time. I mean it _is_ Valentine's Day."

"Thanks," James responded happily.

Lily rolled her eyes and heaved rather loud, annoyed sigh. "C'mon," she smiled, pulling her friend to her feet. "We're meeting the others for lunch."

James wrapped his arm around Lily's waist affectionately and the trio made their way down the steep slope to the Three Broomsticks.

As always, the place was crowded with Hogwarts students, trying to get something to eat. Lily, James, and Chevious reached the table just as Eiez, Sirius, Feathin, and, somewhat to her regret, Remus were starting to sit down. James and Lily quickly slid into the booth before Chevious or Remus could even react leaving no room for them to sit, thanks to a quick shrinking spell by Feathin.

"Oh, sorry guys," Eiez said innocently. "Guess there isn't enough room for all of us."

"Imagine that," Remus mumbled, seeming a bit miffed.

"Hey! There's a table over there," Feathin said, pointing over to a small table in the dim corner. A small candle burned in the center of the table, illuminating two champagne glasses of butterbeer.

Chevious made a hopeless glance back at her friends before retreating to the romantic table. She was going to have to face him now. Then again, he had to face her as well. The thought of actually holding a conversation with Remus again lifted her spirits immensely.

Like a gentleman, Remus pulled out her chair for her before seating himself. An awkward silence fell over them. Remus stared around the room and compulsively took sips from his glass. Chevious on the other hand, concentrated on the candle, attempting to tear through his mental defenses and think of something to say.

"It's not going to work," he mumbled. Chevious peered up at him curiously. It had been the first time he had actually looked at her in weeks.

"What's not going to work?" she said innocently, enjoying the sound of his deep voice.

"You're not going to get in," he answered, tapping his temple with his index finger.

"Well, it seems that it was going to be the only way you'd ever speak to me again. Plus, I could find out who _she_ is?"

"Who?" Remus retorted.

"_Hell if I know! _You tell me."

----

Back at the booth, Feathin strained to hear what was going on with an ear she had enchanted to pick up their conversation.

"She's asking him about the other girl," Feathin informed the eager listeners.

----

"I have absolutely _no_ idea what you're talking about!"

"_Bull shit, Remus!_ I wish you'd be honest with me _for once!"_

"It would help if I know who the _she_ is."

Chevious rolled her eyes; this conversation was going downhill fast. She could almost feel the tears coming as they spoke. "The other girl we've been seeing," she blurted uneasily.

"Other girl? There's no other girl! What the hell put that into your head?"

"Well, what am I supposed to think?! You're never around. You avoid me as much as possible. You never talk to me. _You tell me what I'm supposed to think!"_

He was silent for a moment, just staring at her in surprise. "Why didn't you say something?"

Chevious' eyebrows furrowed. _"Say something? Say something? Damnit Remus! I don't even get a hello if I do see!"_

_----_

"Ooooooh, she's pissed," Feathin stated, giving the rest of the group a play by play. "He says she should have said something, and she's going off."

"How bad is it?" Eiez asked.

"Worse than anything I've seen!"

"Ouch!" James chimed in.

----

Tears spilled onto her cheeks at this point. Chevious took in a deep breath. "I guess I just wasn't good enough then, was I?"

Remus stared at her, dumbfounded by this statement. _Where did **that** one come from?_

"Would you at least say something," she sobbed, wiping away the rivers forming on her cheeks.

"Do you want to take a walk?" he asked out of nowhere.

"A walk?" she repeated, genuinely taken aback by his response.

"I believe we have an audience," Remus proclaimed, gesturing to the booth where the others had been. She turned in time to see Feathin ducking out of sight. Chevious smiled.

----

"May-day! May-day! We've been spotted!" Feathin exclaimed, diving back down onto the bench.

"They saw you?!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No, Sirius. She just felt like a game of hide-and-seek," Eiez declared sarcastically. "Yeah, dip-shit! They saw her!"

----

"We've been set up," Remus proclaimed.

"What was your first clue?" Chevious asked.

He smiled. "Let's get out of here."

The pair stood and exited the tavern. They strolled back up the hill to the Shrieking Shack Where they could be assured solitude. They both took a seat on the curb and stared down at the bustling of the small town below.

"So?" she inquired.

"So what?" he asked, looking over at her with a warm smile. She hadn't realized how much she had missed his smile.

"If you aren't seeing anyone, why have you been avoiding me?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt again."

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt again."

"Bloody hell! What are you talking about?!"

Remus turned to face her. "Ever since we've been together, you've gotten hurt. Lies, vampires, secrets...I just wanted it all to stop. It was too dangerous."

Chevious gave him a warm smile. "I'm glad you care that much, but all of that never mattered to me." She caressed her rosy cheeks with her gloved hand. "What hurt the most is never being around you. I always felt safe in your arms. I was never scared when I was with you. The only time I was scared was when I thought you would never come back." He returned her smile now. "I love you, Remus. Nothing will change that. Not lies. Not vampires. Not secrets. Nothing."

"I guess this means we've made up, huh?" he whispered, a cheerful smile curling across his lips.

Chevious laughed. "You think you can just apologize and you're automatically off the hook? It's not that easy! You've got a bit more kissing up to do before I forgive you completely."

He leaned in, placing his lips on hers in a passionate kiss. A shiver raced through her body. She had longed for the sweet taste of him, and once again everything seemed right. He ran his cold fingers through her hair. She pulled away reluctantly. He cracked another smile, bear his ivory teeth.

"How about now?" he asked playfully.

Chevious blushed slightly. "Almost. Not quite."

Remus pulled her against him and kissed her again. He wrapped his snowy arms around her waist beneath her open winter cloak. Chevious could feel the icy melting water against her back. Her arms slid comfortably around his neck. Remus pulled away and stared into her eyes, leaning his forehead against hers.

"How about now?" His voice was soft and heartfelt.

Chevious could only smile. "Yeah. We've made up."

They walked hand-in-hand down the steep slope. The streets were beginning to thin out with the approach of dusk. The sun hung low on the horizon and their fellow students were heading back toward the castle. The pair met up with Lily, Feathin, and James outside the Three Broomsticks. Feathin flirted with a Hufflepuff Seventh Year while her brother and friend were stealing a passionate kiss in the low lighting of the streetlights. Sirius and Eiez were nowhere in sight.

"Where's E?" Chevious questioned the group.

"Last time I saw them," Lily replied, "Sirius and Eiez were taking your table."

"They wanted to be alone," James added.

"Yeah," Lily continued. "They said they'd catch up."

----

February came and went as quickly as the snow. Spring had sprung on the quiet Hogwarts grounds and Easter Holidays were a mere week away. Excitement was mounting about what everyone would be doing over the two week break. Eiez and Sirius were going to stick around the castle and spend some time together. Feathin and James were going to visit a relative in Wales. Lily would be stuck with her horrible sister Petunia while Peter stayed with his grandmother because his parents had decided to take a trip to the south of France last minute. Remus would be returning home, as would Chevious, only with a slight difference.

"What do you mean you will be spending the holidays at home alone?" Remus asked her inquisitively.

"My dad will be working a lot. He's always busy around holidays."

"Then why go home?"

"I don't know. I just feel like I shouldn't stay here. I'll either be ditched or become the third wheel."

Remus looked her doubtfully, reasoning with what he was about to say. "Why don't you come stay with me?"

Chevious' eyes grew wide with surprise. "What?" she asked, stupefied by the notion.

He smiled in amusement toward her reaction. "Come stay with me," he stated.

"I don't want to impose on your parents or anything. I mean its really short notice."

"Mum won't mind. She loves to have company, and Dad's never home so he won't care. C'mon! It'll be great."

"I don't know..."

"Please, I insist! I can't very well let my girlfriend send the holidays by herself, now can I?"

"All right," she sighed with a smile. "Just let me get the okay from Dad."

Low and behold, a week later the pair sat on a bench on Platform 9 ¾, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Lupin. Remus held Chevious against him affectionately as his eyes scanned the emptying platform. He sat up slightly when he spotted an extremely tall, professional looking man approaching them. His sandy hair bounced a little with every determined stride. His cleanly pressed, charcoal suit didn't seem to move at all. He stopped before them, a look of disgust crossing into his gray eyes as he scrutinize the pair.

"Remus," was all the deep voice escaping his thin lips asserted.

"Hello to you to, father," Remus voiced with slight distaste. He stood now, showing that his father was at least a whole head taller. "Where's mum?"

"She's at home making up the guest room." His authoritative eyes looked over Chevious, only growing more disgusted. "Well I see that she has no manners."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir." Chevious' voice was softer than usual and had a note of uncertainty. She extended her hand politely. "I'm Chevious Nogard, sir. I'm pleased to meet you."

He glanced at her hand for a moment than his eyes became fixed on hers. "Roderick J. Lupin." He looked back at his son. "She's not exactly a looker, and she doesn't seem very graceful at all."

Chevious looked over at Remus as well, eyes pleading with her boyfriend to give her some clue as to how to react. He gripped her hand tightly and close to his side, expression remaining as blank as stone.

He circled them now, scrutinizing every detail, as if the pair were a questionable slab of meat at the butcher's. "She's quite shabby and appears to have very little figure. I'm quite disappointed in your taste, son. Is she just a cheap trick and a joke you care to play on your mother and I, or do you keep her around as a toy?"

"You don't know anything about her, Father," Remus finally voiced. "So, before you pass your judgements on my love interests, maybe you should examine your own choices."

Mr. Lupin's eyebrows furrowed. "Watch your tongue young man. I am your father and will not tolerate your smart mouth. Do you understand?" Remus made no point to respond. "You're lucky we don't leave your friend here to fend for herself! Well, we'd better head home before your mother begins to worry."

_Like you care about mum in the first place!_ The thought broke Chevious mind like a whip as if he had screamed it. The heel of her hand shot to her forehead to dull the pain. Mr. Lupin didn't notice, however, for he had already turned and had began to walk away.

They drive north out of central London and continued on until we were passing pastures. Mr. Lupin got off the highway and drove down a narrow, empty road until they reached a forest. They turned off onto a private drive that seemed to be miles long. They finally reached a small clearing where a large, brick house towered before them. Hundreds of colored flowers bordered the winding cobblestone walkway up to the front door. Chevious was in dumbstruck by the beauty of the scene before her.

"Remus will take your things upstairs and give you a tour, if we've taught him any manners whatsoever." Mr. Lupin proclaimed, still irritated from his son's comments on the Platform. "I have to go back to work. I have a very important proposal due tomorrow. Tell your mother--"

"That you'll be home late and not to wait up. You'll make it up to her later," Remus finished, as if he heard this speech often. "Got it. Go."

Mr. Lupin put the car into reverse and drove off.

"Asshole," Remus muttered under his breath as he picked up the pair of suitcases and headed for the door. Chevious stared back down the driveway for a moment wondering how Mr. Lupin and Remus could ever be related; they were such extreme opposites it seemed impossible. She then quickly followed him into the house.

The foyer was rather large with a winding staircase against one wall. Her footsteps echoed off of the polished wood floors and white walls. She spotted glass paned doors at the end of the long, spacious hallway that appeared to lead to the backyard. A white door almost directly to the left of the front door seemed to melt into the wall. Remus was already scaling the polished wooden steps toward the second floor. She followed suit, climbing up onto the second floor landing. A narrow corridor of many rooms stood before her. Remus disappeared a few doors down on the left. Chevious followed him in.

This room was very plain. The walls and carpet were both white along with the bed linens. A large window across from the door looked out over a beautiful garden. Remus sat her suitcase down upon the bed beside the door and took a seat in a boxy, white armchair near the window.

"Well, this is your room." He sighed.

"Its very white," Chevious replied matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. I keep telling Mum that, but she says 'it won't conflict with any guest's personality and therefore it shall stay neutral white.'" He snickered a little. "I hope you don't mind too much. You'd understand Mum better when you meet her."

"Its fine. The room is actually very cozy and has a great view."

He smiled warmly, melting away all her worries about his parents meeting her. He gestured for her to come over. "There's a better view of the yard from over here."

She complied curiously. When standing before him, Remus promptly reached up and pulled her onto his lap without objection. She leaned against his chest comfortably as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry about my dad."

"Don't be," she replied reassuringly. "It's not a big deal."

"Yes it is. He shouldn't talk to you like that."

Chevious tilted her head up slightly and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry about it. As long as you don't think like that."

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she replied, placing her lips on his.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Am I interrupting something?" a quiet feminine voice asked. Chevious pulled away, shocked by the question. A rather petite women with dark hair stood in the doorway. Her tiny frame was adorned by a long beige skirt and fuzzy pink sweater. He paintbrush straight tresses fells just past her shoulders. Her pale skin was complimented by deep sapphire eyes.

"Oh! Hi, Mum!" Remus exclaimed, taken aback by his mother's presence.

"Welcome home, Rem," she said politely. "This must be that wonderful, life-changing girl I keep hearing so much about."

Chevious quickly stood up, slightly embarrassed. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Lupin."

"Chevious isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Its a pleasure to meet you too, Chevious. Remus is so modest when it comes to you, dear."

"In what way?" Chevious glanced curiously down at her beau.

"You are more beautiful than he described."

"Thank you."

"No need to thank those who speak the truth, dear. I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Thank you for having me, Mrs. Lupin."

"My pleasure, dear."

The petite woman exited as quietly as she had come. Chevious smiled warmly. She finally understood where Remus got his personality.

----

Chevious awoke with a start. She peered around frantically in the darkness. Nothing stirred. She sighed in relief, wiping the cold sweat from her brow. It had been several days since her arrival. The vision that had waken her had faded from her memory. All that remained were faint wisps of blurry, unfocused images.

A loud, agonizing howl pierced the silence of the early morning hours. Chevious cautiously reached for her wand beneath the pillow beside her. Quietly, she slipped out into the hall. Below her, another howl echoed off of the walls. She descended to the foyer and peered around. The white door that she had noticed upon arriving stood ajar. A flicking light behind it dancing across the polished wood of the floor.

Holding her wand at the ready, Chevious crept down the narrow stairway behind the door into the unknown of the house's lower level. The large room at the foot of the staircase as dimly lit by a few candles sitting on a lone table against the wall. Above the table, a rifle hung beside a set of what appeared to be darts.

A deafening crash made her jump. Chevious spun around to see a gigantic enclosure. Thick silver bars ran from the floor to the ceiling. Within them, a lycan growled and struggled with the bars, smoke rising from his grip. He howled painfully and released his hold on the silver.

Chevious drew a few steps closer. The wolf looked at her hungrily, growling fiercely. Her heart sank at the sight of him. He seemed almost lonely beneath the famished glint of his eyes.

"Remus," she cooed. The beast seemed slightly soothed by the sound of her voice. "I know you're in there somewhere." She paused, sitting down against the aged concrete wall. She smiled sadly at the creature. "I know I'll never completely understand you're pain and loneliness, but I think I do understand why you did what you did. It must have been horrible. With all those years of solidarity, it must have been hard for you to trust people, to open your heart. Thank you for allowing me to be the exception. Don't worry. You'll never be alone again."

A silent, emotional tear ran down her cheek. She sniffed weakly, wiping away the trail left by the tear. That's when she noticed the old-fashioned, leather bound book that laid open beside her. Chevious closed the book and examined the worn binding.

She gave a slight snicker. "Beauty and the Beast. You know, it used to be my favorite bedtime story when I was little. I used to pretend I found a castle inhabited by a kind beast. Kind of ironic now that I think about it. I found my castle and I'm here my gentle prince of a beast." She smiled silently, another tear racing down her cheek. "Hopefully my fairytale will end in 'happily ever after' like theirs." She paused to wipe away more tears. "Would you like me to read it to you?"

The werewolf fell silent, almost seeming to beg her for the offer. Chevious carefully opened the book, a smile still dancing on her face. "As you wish. Once upon a time..."

She read for hours, the werewolf remaining quiet the duration of the time. At the conclusion of the tale, Chevious' tired body came to rest on the dirt floor, her eyes shutting under the weight on sleep.

Remus awoke to rays of sunshine pouring into the basement dungeon from a high window. His head splitting, he peered around wearily. He caught sight of what, at first glance, appeared to be a pile of clothing. After looking closely, he realized it was, in fact, the brown haired girl he had come to love. She was curled up in a ball upon the cold earth, an old book clutched tightly against her chest. He smiled warmly. She had slept on the dirt floor, just to keep him company. He knew it would not be the last time she would.

----

Chevious entered the kitchen later that day to find Mrs. Lupin sitting in solitude at the kitchen table, sipping what smelled like a mint tea as she stared out at the garden behind the house. Remus lounged on a bench beneath a large oak tree reading one of the books from his mother's library.

"Are you okay, Mrs. Lupin?" Chevious inquired with concern for the woman's forlorn expression.

She looked up at the teenage girl before her with a smile. "Yes, dear, but may I speak with you, woman to woman?"

"Of course!" Chevious sat down across from her. "What would you like to talk about?"

"You know....when I was a girl, I dreamed about a boy sweeping me off of my feet, taking me far away from my home, and make my life into a fairytale. When I met Roderick, he took my breath away." She smiled slightly at the memory. "He did exactly what I imagined. He swept me off of my feet and we were living out our happily ever after. We were madly in love and had our little boy." She paused, smiling fading. She looked down at the table painfully. "When Remus was still very small, my husband decided to take him on his first camping trip, just the boys. So they went out on their own. Everything was going fine, they were there for a few nights." Mrs. Lupin's breath caught in her throat, seemingly holding back a sob. "On the last night they were there, Remus went a few feet from the campsite to gather wood. Not too far, just outside of the campfire's light. Roderick heard him scream. He yelled to Remus, but only heard him screaming. He ran into the brush and saw that his little boy was being attacked by some sort of beast. He ran back to the tent, grabbed his revolver, and returned to shoot the creature. It ran off, but Remus was bleeding profusely. He had to rush him to the hospital. It was only a week or two after his release that we learned of his condition. Roderick felt responsible and could never look at him the same. He worked longer hours, wouldn't come home until we were both in bed. After a while it turned his heart to ice. He almost never comes home now. He's always off with one of the floozies he thinks I don't know about."

"Why are you telling me all of this, Mr. Lupin?"

"Because, Chevious, Remus has a really hard time with rejection and loss. He feels as if his father rejected him and their relationship is very strained. I thought it would help you to better understand their situation as well as thank you."

"For what? I haven't done anything worth gratitude."

"But you have, dear." She grasped Chevious' hands tenderly, looking her in the eye. "You have given my son your unconditional love and you will never know how much it has effected him. I have never seen him be more honest or loving toward anyone other than myself. I want to thank you for that. Thank you for coming into my son's life. Thank you for loving him without an agenda. Thank you for being there for him. I only wish that you two had gotten together sooner."

Mrs. Lupin smiled warmly at the girl before her. "Why don't you go ahead outside and be with him. I'm sure he will be happy to have your company."

Chevious smiled back at her. She rose from her place and ran outside. Mrs. Lupin watched with a smile as Remus got up to greet her with a warm embrace. She watched as the pair exchanged a tender kiss and sat together beneath the tree. She couldn't help but smile at her son's obvious bliss in that moment and any other Chevious was a part of. He was finally happy, and she was happy for him.

----

May soon came, meaning the N.E.W.T.s were only days away, leaving all the seventh years on edge. All could be seen crowding the library or Common Room tables, piles upon piles of books usually hiding them from view. Such was the fate of the Gryffindor gang.

Feathin, James, and Lily congregated by the fire, quizzing each other on various subjects. Peter was submerged in a stack of Arithmancy books at least 3 feet high. Remus occupied one of the armchairs near the fire, completely boxed in by piles of textbooks and notes. Chevious sat at one of the tables with several potions books while Eiez tried to give her helpful hints over the easy-to-understand divination notes Chevious had given to her. Sirius, on the other hand, sat with a single text book and a stack of papers totaling only 4 pages. He kept looking up and snickering at his stressed out companions. It aggravated the hell out of everyone else how calm he was so close to the tests.

"Sirius," Peter finally spoke up, "Why don't you seem at all stressed?"

"Elementary, my dear Wormtail," he replied, trying to sound like Sherlock Holmes. "You see, the more you study, the more you're trying to force into your brain. The more you force in, the more stressed you get. The more stressed you get, the faster you forget. The more you forget, the less know. So, what's the point of studying like that?"

"Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?" agreed Eiez, who had been trying to get out of her divination studies for the past hour. She abruptly threw down her notes and reclined in her chair.

"Nice try, E," Chevious scolded, shoving her notes back into her hands. "Your still have to pass with a decent grade, or dad will kill you."

"But--"

"Eiez, just shut up and go over the flaming notes already!" ordered Feathin angrily, moving on from oral quizzing to a book about illnesses that afflict magical creatures from the top of her slowly vanishing pile.

Eiez frowned in a huff and returned to her notes as instructed. That was the least of Chevious' irritations. The more she concentrated on the book in front of her, the more her mental blockade to stop unwanted thoughts seemed to disappear. Her own thoughts seemed to be under attack from invaders. Thousands of ideas and convictions swirled about in a seeming endless whirlpool within her head. Her eyes blurred and watered as an immense pain formed in her forehead.

"Will everyone please stop thinking so loudly!" Chevious snapped a few moments later, slamming down her potions manual. The room fell quiet in reaction to her sudden outburst. Her friends stared at her in shock as well.

Chevious sighed with vexation, gathered her notes into her bag, grabbed as many books as possible, and made her way upstairs to the her dorm. The assault of thoughts subsided gradually as she continued ascending to the Seventh Year dormitory.

Cool, night air streamed in from the balcony. Chevious dropped her books onto her four poster and stepped out into the darkness. Thousands of stars glowed overhead and a bright crescent hung high in the heavens. She closed her eyes against her frustrations and returned to her vacation in her mind's eye.

"Only a few more days of this, and then I can relax. Just a few more days." She opened them again, turning her mind back to her books.

A shadow fell across the balcony beside her own. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist, gently pulling her against the warm body of her beau. He kissed her neck affectionately and rested his head on her shoulder.

"How did you get up here?" she whispered.

"Not easily, let me tell you," he laughed, recounting the multiple times he slid down the staircase as it turned into a winding slide. "Are you complaining?"

"Of course not, but why are you up here?"

He smiled warmly. "Come walk with me."

"Where?" Chevious inquired curiously.

"Just come with me." He grasped her hand and pulled her back into the room. A bouquet of flowers rested on her nightstand. How had she missed them?

Remus led her out onto the starlit grounds. The scent of night blooming flowers filled the air as they drank the moonlight of the crescent overhead. They dodged around the light from windows, attempting to remain unseen. The pair came to a halt near the Whomping Willow. Chevious stared around curiously.

"Remus, what's going on?"

He had gotten down onto his knees and was crawling army style under the thrashing branches. He pointed his wand out and began prodding a small space on the trunk of the willow. He prodded until the tree suddenly stood stone still.

"A-ha!" He exclaimed.

Remus pulled her into the dark passage beneath the Willow, the smell of damp earth surrounding them. Chevious desperately probed his mind to find out what he was up to, but he caught on quite quickly and abruptly pushed her out.

"It's a surprise," he exclaimed in mock scolding. He reached up for the trapdoor, pausing to look back at her. "Close your eyes."

Chevious did as she was told. She stumbled blindly up the stairway and into the room above. Scents of lavender pleasantly filled her nostrils. She stopped abruptly when she realized Remus was no longer holding onto her. She had only seen the room once, and when running from a hungry werewolf, one doesn't pay much attention to her surroundings.

"Remus?" No one answered. "Remus?!"

"I'm still here." Muffled footsteps sounded in the distance.

"What's going on?"

"You'll see." He seemed to trail off as if he were moving farther away.

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Not yet." His footsteps grew closer once again. He grasped her hand gently, raising it to his lips. Her heart pounded anxiously against her ribs, her body longing to feel the warmth of his body. He pulled her closer, his spicy aftershave surrounding her. "Now," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. "Open them."

Her breath caught in her chest as she gazed about the room. Hundreds of tiny, scented candles bobbed through the air, their light dancing across the walls. The shabby pieces of furniture were covered in millions of flower petals. A messy, misshapen cake covered in chocolate frosting sat on the coffee table which was being supported by miscellaneous objects. The words _Happy Birthday, Beautiful_ were written across the frosting in what appeared to be pixie dust.

Chevious looked up at questioning hazel eyes, completely speechless. Her lips parted as if to say something, but no words came to her. Overwhelmed, her mental block faded away. Remus' thoughts flowed freely into her mind_. Why isn't she saying anything? Does she like it? Did I screw this up too?_

"Well?" he asked timidly.

"It's wonderful," she answered breathlessly. A smile crept lazily across his lips. "You did this all for me?!"

"I don't see anyone else here worth the trouble." His grin spread from ear to ear.

She, too, found herself smiling. She rose up onto her toes, placing her lips on his. His hands lingered on her lower back. She pulled back and whispered, "Thank you."

He embraced her once more, his fingers caressing the bare skin on her back above her jeans. Shivers coursing through her body only made her cling to him even more.

"Anything for you, Chev," he cooed. His hands seemed to become slightly more daring as they ran beneath her shirt. She pulled away reluctantly. Slight disappointment flashed across his eyes, but disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Did you make the cake yourself?" she asked, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over them.

"Yeah," he answered, looking down at it and scratching his head. "It didn't turn out too well."

She smiled at his sudden discomfort. "I'm sure it tastes fine. Care to test it?"

"Try at your own risk," he laughed.

Remus disappeared into an adjoining room and returned with two forks. He carved out a small piece with the fork and lifted it to her lips.

"Birthday girl gets first piece," he said, a smirk adorning his face.

Chevious parted her lips and allowed him to place the chocolate cake in her mouth. It, actually, wasn't too bad. It definitely wasn't one of his better foods to cook, but at least it tasted like chocolate cake. She smiled at him as a response to his questioning expression.

"Delicious," she exclaimed, exaggerating slightly. A smile returned to his lips once again.

"I take it that it's edible then?"

She snickered and pretended to faint, falling against him. He laughed as well, helping her to stand again.

"Care to dance?"

"But there isn't any music," she responded, stating the obvious.

"Sure there is! Just listen."

She leaned comfortably against him. She closed her eyes as they swayed back and forth.

"I've got you...under my skin," he sang softly in her ear. "I've got you....deep in the heart of me. So deep in my heart that you're really a part of me. I've got you under my skin. I tried so hard...not to give in. I've said to myself this affair never will go so well, but why should I try to resist, when baby will I know so well..."

"That I've got you under my skin," she joined in.

They danced for a bit longer before returning to the Common Room, cake in hand.

----

Dumbledore stood impressively at the staff table, his arms raised over his head to silence the mass of chattering students. He smiled warmly at the crowd before him. "Another year is coming to a close. Your heads may now be full, but I expect they will be nice and empty upon your return next year. A final reminder to seventh years: the graduation ball will begin promptly at eight o'clock. No students will be permitted to enter the Great Hall until that time. All other students are to be in their respective Common Rooms during the ball unless you are attending with a seventh year student. On behalf of the entire Hogwarts staff, I wish all our seventh years best of luck in their future and hope to see the rest of you in the coming year. Now, shall we enjoy our final feast?"

Dumbledore made a sweeping motion with his extended arms and food blossomed from the platters before them. The seventh year girls shoved food into their mouths as fast as humanly possible, some scaring a few of the younger students. Chevious, Eiez, Feathin, and Lily disappeared from the hall before any of their beaus could get in a word.

----

Remus rocked on the balls of his feet anxiously, his back to the girls' staircase. He was eager to see the dress Chevious had picked out. The theme of the ball was muggle masquerade, so everyone was forced to buy muggle formal wear. James and Sirius, whose suits were a bit more casual then his, lounged on the over-stuffed sofa playing a hand of poker. Peter was exiting the Common Room with some bony looking, blonde third year.

Someone cleared their throat. Remus whirled around. Chevious stood a few steps from the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail of Grecian curls. A miniature braid wrapped around the hair tie to conceal it from view. Her red, sleeveless, satin dress shimmered in the light of the stairwell torches. The golden heart shaped locket he had given her for Christmas complimented the square neckline. Remus stood in awe; he couldn't remember her ever looking so beautiful.

"Hey," Chevious chirped, thoroughly enjoying Remus' reaction.

"Wow," he replied automatically. "You look...."

"Terrible, right? I told Eiez this wasn't the dress for me, but she was not going to listen...."

"No, no," Remus quickly declared, interrupting her self-conscience rant. "That's not what I was going to say." She looked a bit dumbfounded for a moment. "I was just going to compliment you on how gorgeous you look tonight."

"Oh...thank you." Chevious' face became a bright crimson color as a flattered smile danced across her lips.

The pair headed down to the Great Hall, which was now flooding with students. Inside, the Great Hall was lavishly decorated in black and silver velvet. Small tables with shimmering black velvet tablecloths were near the walls and the dance floor was located in the center of it all. Hundreds of floating candles soared above the student's heads and the stars in the ceiling flickered in the candlelight. It was just like a dream and Chevious could not remember a time when the Great Hall had looked so inviting. They made their way over to a table in the corner of the hall next to the stage where the muggle band was still setting up.

"We're a little early." Remus commented as he pulled the chair out for Chevious to sit down.

"That's okay; at least we beat the rush." Chevious smiled.

Chevious glanced towards the door and saw Eiez and Sirius enter, hand in hand. They were looking around for familiar faces. Chevious stood up and waved her hands to get their attention. Eiez saw her and began walking over, Sirius followed. Eiez looked stunning in her floor length black ball gown. It was strapless and the top had a thick, pure white band that was accented by a sparkling white rose. Her hair was a mass of loose red curls with a small white rose clip on one side. Sirius looked equally handsome in his black tuxedo, his hair was a bit more kept than usual.

"Eiez! That is the perfect dress!" Chevious exclaimed, giving her best friend a hug.

"You look great, I told you that dress was the one!" Eiez hugged her back. Eiez turned to Remus and Sirius, "Boys, why don't you get your lovely ladies a drink?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and was about to argue when Remus grabbed his arm. "We would be delighted." He grinned. As they turned to go Sirius turned around quickly, "your majesty!" He jokingly said to Eiez. She responded by sticking her tongue out.

"It took me forever to get him to comb his hair, and oh my, Chev, you should have seen the suit he wanted to get. The man at the store told him it was all the rage and all the coolest muggles were wearing them. Personally, it was hideous! It was baby blue and orange! I'm lucky I talked him out of it. But James… on the other hand…" Eiez stopped abruptly and motioned towards the door.

James and Lily walked in. Lily looked stunning, and James… well, let's just say James looked a bit like a tall, lanky Christmas tree. His forest green leisure suit was accented by a black bow tie and black dress shoes. He beamed as though he was the most fashionable person in the room, and Lily looked slightly helpless. She was wearing a halter style deep emerald green dress that had an asymmetrical hemline, and matching green heels. Her board straight light red hair was pulled up into a French twist with baby's breath entwined into it. She smiled as she tugged James' arm and proceeded to walk over to the table.

"Lily! You look wonderful!" Eiez smiled as they hugged, "and James… you look… interesting?"

James flipped his collar up, "Why, thank you!" He grinned like a madman.

Lily eagerly held out her left hand, "look!" She whispered to Chevious and Eiez. A beautiful blue diamond glittered in the candlelight on Lily's ring finger. "He proposed!!!"

This statement was followed by lots of hugging, giggling, and congratulating.

By now the Great Hall was almost completely filled with bright eyed seventh years and the band was almost done setting up on stage. Headmaster Dumbledore walked onto the center of the stage and held his hands up. Students took their seats and quieted down immediately. He cleared his throat.

"This is the last time I will address you, for tomorrow you will all go your separate and respective ways. The past seven years here have been very memorable for myself and for the rest of the staff. Some students have been consistent problems," Dumbledore chuckled and glanced at Sirius and James, "but still this class would not be who they are without them. Tonight is your night, seize it, and make it yours. Congratulations class of 1979!" Students applauded and a few even shed some sad tears but all was better when the band kicked into gear.

"May I have this dance?" Remus stood and held his hand out to Chevious.

"Of course!"

They glided out onto the dance floor and began to whirl around. Lily and James as well as Sirius and Eiez were not far from them.

"This night is so perfect." Chevious said.

"I agree… I could not agree more." Remus added. "I love you."

Chevious smiled, "I love you too."

They leaned in to kiss but were interrupted by a commotion onstage. Sirius had grabbed what muggles commonly called a microphone and was evading the lead singer of the band. He ran behind the guitarist and then jumped over the drum set before tripping over a power cord and flying offstage. Eiez had rushed to the stage.

"Levatos!!!" She shouted, stopping Sirius in mid-air from becoming a pancake in a tuxedo.

He slowly floated to the ground where he landed on his feet comfortably. "Is this thing on?" He asked loudly into the microphone, it squealed in response. "Oh, forget this thing!" Sirius tossed the microphone back to the lead singer.

"Eiez, I have something I want to say…" Sirius turned to the rest of the seventh years, "I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!" He began yelling, "I LOVE HER!"

Eiez turned bright red, "Sirius! What are you doing?!"

Sirius dropped down onto one knee and reached into his pocket, pulling out a black velvet box.

"Eiez, will you marry me?"

Eiez's large brown eyes stared into Sirius' dark brown, almost black, eyes and they began to fill with tears. "Yes." She whispered. "Yes!"

Sirius slipped the ring onto her finger and pulled her into a tight embrace and a passionate kiss ensued. Cheers and clapping erupted throughout the seventh years and the Sirius Black fan club cried like babies. The band started up again and the dance continued on.

Chevious smiled happily at Eiez and Sirius, _'they're so much in love…'_ she thought.

"Let's get some air on the balcony." Remus said quietly.

They made their way through the crowd and out onto the large stone balcony. The school was so old and vines had grown up the side of the building and wrapped themselves around the railings. The moon was unusually bright for only being a crescent. Chevious took a seat on a small stone bench and looked out over the lake. The moonbeams caught her satin dress and it shimmered like water. It made her hair shine and from Remus' point of view she looked like a goddess.

Chevious noticed him staring at her, "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No… you just… you look so beautiful." Remus reached out and brushed a loose curl from her green eyes. Chevious blushed. "There's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time." He continued.

Remus paused and reached for Chevious' hands. "I just wanted to know if you would…"

Remus was cut off here by Sirius staggering onto the balcony, he had obviously had too much butterbeer in celebration.

"Remus! Are you going to ask Chevee to marry ya?" Sirius asked with a bit of a slur.

Remus' eyes fell to the ground and a vein in his forehead began to pulse, anger seemed to radiate from him and if Chevious hadn't known better she would have sworn he was about to change into a werewolf.

Eiez always seemed to have perfect timing because at that moment she rushed onto the balcony, shot Remus an apologetic look, and dragged Sirius away by his collar. Chevious chuckled to herself, _'they already act like they're married.' _

Moments passed and Remus didn't say anything. "What were you going to ask me?" Chevious asked timidly.

Remus looked her in the eye, "I was just going to… erm… uhh… ask you if umm… if you would come stay with me for a week or two this summer…?"

"Oh," Chevious' heart dropped into her feet and tears threatened to seep into her eyes, "of course!"

Remus smiled, "Great! Well… what do you say we go back inside? It's getting a little windy out here."

----

The ball went on into the early hours of the morning and the Marauders were the last to leave at around two a.m. The next morning Chevious awoke and stumbled into the seventh year's bathroom. Her makeup was smudged from the night before and her curls were flattened from sleeping on them. It was a sad reminder of the previous night's festivities and that today was the last day of an important chapter in her life. She slowly and almost hesitantly wiped her makeup off and got into the shower. It wasn't until she went back into her dorm that she noticed Eiez wasn't in her bed, in fact, it looked as though her bed hadn't even been slept in.

Concerned for her friends well being she meandered down into the common room. It was still really early, only six in the morning, and she found that the common room was deserted. Chevious was about to exit the portrait hole when she heard a rustling sound from the couch. She slowly crept over to the couch and looked down. Sirius and Eiez lay on the couch, Eiez's head rested on Sirius' chest and his arms wrapped around her petite waist. It looked as though both of them had just crashed right there judging by the fact that Eiez was still in her gown and Sirius was still in his tuxedo.

Chevious smiled to herself, 'I wish Remus and I could be like that…'

A few hours later everyone was up and running around to prepare for graduation. Eiez and Chevious were upstairs monopolizing the bathroom to get ready.

"MY HAIR WILL NOT STOP FRIZZING!" Eiez was flipping out. She kept sticking her hands under the water and trying to smooth her hair out.

"Eiez…" Chevious started, "have you forgotten that you are a witch?"

Eiez stopped in mid motion and turned slowly to face Chevious who held up Eiez's wand. Eiez snatched it out of her hand. "I knew that." She pointed the wand at her unruly hair, "defresatos!"

In a second Eiez's hair had gone from major frizz ball to perfect silky curls. "Much better!" She declared.

Two black robes were draped over a chair along with four long strands of red and gold intertwined rope. Another somber reminder of the graduation ahead.

"I'm really sorry about Sirius last night…" Eiez said. "He was so excited that I said yes… well he had a bit too much butterbeer and he always seems to interrupt at the most inopportune moments." She frowned.

"It is okay, Remus just asked me to come stay with him for a few weeks." Chevious said in a disappointed tone.

"No, it's not. I can tell. Honestly now! We are practically sisters. Tell me what's wrong?" Eiez insisted.

Chevious tossed down her blush brush, "I think he was going to ask me to marry him." She said with her head down. "If you had seen the way he was looking at me, he looked as though… I don't know, but it was different. He was really serious and he seemed nervous, but it was so cute, and the moment was so perfect…" Chevious trailed off here.

"And then Sirius had to ruin it?" Eiez frowned.

Chevious just looked at her, a mutual understanding running through them.

Eiez embraced Chevious in a tight hug. "Chevee, you and I both know that if something is meant to happen, it will happen. Maybe Sirius' interrupting like the moron he is, was actually supposed to happen? Maybe Remus will propose to you and it will be a million times more perfect than the first try?"

Chevious' eyes began to brim with tears.

"Don't cry!" Eiez exclaimed. "Please don't cry, Chevee! You know how I am! If you cry I will cry, and then we will cry together and our mascara will run. But, seriously, today is our last day as students of Hogwarts and I know we don't want to think about that… but let's not look at it as a loss. Let's try to think of it as something new happening. Yea, we're going out into the real world now, but it's not like we won't see each other anymore. Now we won't have to worry about tests and homework and that stuff. No more Slytherin idiots bothering us, no more Snape, and most importantly, no more ARITHMANCY!!!!! YEA!" At this Eiez began jumping up and down.

"You're right," Chevious said while dabbing her eyes with a tissue, "let's finish getting ready!"

----

Hogwarts graduation ceremonies were somewhat like muggle graduation ceremonies, but with a few distinct differences. There was one student from each house who held the top grades and then the school wide highest grade holder would be announced from those four. No one knew who was chosen from each house, but everyone had an idea in his or her mind of whom it might be. The students quieted down and took their seats. They were seated according to the arrangement they had picked out, so they could be with their friends. Dumbledore really stressed that at graduation they not be seated according to house because for the past seven years they had always been sort of separated from each other and it was time they got used to the company of other houses.

Chevious took her seat in between Eiez and Remus and smiled to herself. Eiez smiled at her and gave her the thumbs up.

"Where is Sirius?" Chevious asked Eiez.

"I don't know," Eiez said, "but I hope he's not going to be late for his own… oh my God…"

Eiez's mouth dropped open and her eyes went very wide. She pointed behind Chevious frantically. The entire graduating class went dead silent, and everyone gaped at a very blonde Sirius Black. James broke out into hysterical laughter, which only seemed to infuriate Sirius even more. He huffed over to his seat next to Eiez and plopped down. He noticed Eiez staring.

"Don't even ask." He growled.

"It looks wonderful…?" Eiez said uncertainly, glancing at Chevious who was biting her tongue trying not to laugh.

Sirius shot her a look, "I DID NOT DO IT ON PURPOSE! But I know who did do it, and there will be sweet, sweeeet hell to pay." He said while grinning and rubbing his hands together.

Dumbledore approached the stage and everyone quieted down and took their seats. Chevious looked around in awe. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. The sun shined brightly and danced on the small waves in the huge lake. The whole castle seemed to sparkle. A sad smile crossed Chevious' face as she remembered the first time she set foot in this place. It had seemed like just yesterday she arrived, and now she was leaving for good. A tear slithered unwillingly out of her eye and down her cheek.

"Shhh… don't cry!" Remus said while wiping the tear out of her eye. "It's not an ending, just a beginning."

Unlike muggle graduations, there were no speeches or anything of the sort. Dumbledore appeared on the stage set up on the school grounds and raised his hands to silence the excited seventh years.

"It is my pleasure to announce the top students from every class." He paused to clear his throat. "From Hufflepuff, Jonathan Diggory." Hufflepuff erupted into thunderous applause as a tall and handsome boy made his way up to the stage. "From Ravenclaw, Jennifer Netsrik." More applause ensued. "From Slytherin, Severus Snape."

At this announcement, Sirius turned to look at Eiez and made a funny face, she elbowed him in the ribs.

"And finally, from Gryffindor…"

Chevious held her breath, 'Please let it be me! Please let it be me…' she thought desperately.

"Lily Evans!"

James jumped up and down and began hooting and hollering, "That's my girl!!!" He yelled, with a huge grin across his face.

Chevious smiled and began to clap loudly, she was let down, but not as much as she thought she would be. Lily really did deserve it.

All four contenders were now standing on the stage. Lily wrung her hands anxiously as they waited to hear the winner. The silence lasted forever until finally Dumbledore spoke again.

"The top student of 1979 is… Lily Evans!"

The entire house of Gryffindor went crazy. They all jumped up and down and clapped wildly. Lily began to cry tears of joy and James rushed onto the stage to embrace her. The houses calmed down and one by one, names were read alphabetically off a long list. Chevious sat there listening, and it finally sank in.

'I am graduating… this is it… I'm an adult now…'

"Chevious Nogard." Dumbledore's voice called out.

Chevious slowly rose from her seat and walked up onto the stage. Dumbledore handed her a rolled up certificate held closed by a deep crimson ribbon. He shook her hand gently, "congratulations, Ms. Nogard."

Chevious nodded in response, and then took her seat on the stage behind Dumbledore. Only a few more people remained to be called. Severus Snape being one of them. Sirius was getting more and more anxious as the name's got closer to Snape.

"Severus Snape." Dumbledore called.

Snape stood up proudly and strutted onto the stage where he accepted his diploma.

"Showtime!" Sirius whispered to Eiez as he darted from his chair.

The next few seconds were complete and utter chaos. Sirius launched himself behind Snape, grabbed a hold of his black trousers, and gave a very hard yank. Snape's trousers landed in a heap around his ankles revealing a pair of boxers that boldly stated _'RAISE MY TITANIC' _against an ocean like background. Snape fumbled to pull his pants back up and the very blonde Sirius rolled around the stage in hysterics. Through all this Dumbledore just stood patiently, a faint smile gracing his aged face, and a twinkle in his eye.

"Alright, alright! That is enough!" He called out. "Will everyone please take their seats so we can continue the ceremony?"

The rest of the ceremony went on without interruption.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present the class of 1979!" Dumbledore stated.

Everyone jumped up and threw their caps into the air, except for Sirius who was trying to cover his bleach blonde hair.

Chevious began to cry slightly, and Eiez noticed.

"Now what did I say about crying?" Eiez asked through her own tears.

Remus came over and gathered Chevious in his arms, "stop crying, baby. Come on, let's go pack."

----

"I can't believe this is the last time we will see this dormitory." Eiez said sadly as she stuffed her clothes into her trunk.

"I know…" Chevious trailed off as she took her sheets off her bed. "Well, I'm all done, how about you?"

Eiez glanced around sadly, "yea, I guess I am too. Let's make the boys carry our stuff down!"

"How? They can't get up the stairs?" Chevious asked.

"I know!" Eiez grinned mischievously, "That's why it's a great idea!"

----

The train at Platform 9 ¾ was a solemn reminder of the times ahead. Chevious felt a mixture of emotions, she was deeply saddened to leave Hogwarts behind, but very excited at the coming summer and future that lay in front of her. Everyone seemed to feel this way. The group gave their bags to the bag boy upon arrival and now were just standing around talking before they entered the train. Many people had come up to shake Sirius' hand on an extremely well executed shanking of Snape at Graduation.

"Come on guys, let's get a compartment." Lily said.

Chevious started to walk towards the train with everyone else when Remus reached for her hand. She looked at him curiously.

"You guys go ahead, we'll catch up." Remus said.

Eiez pulled Sirius onto the train and gave Remus a wink behind Chevious' back.

Remus pulled Chevious into a tight embrace, "I love you." He whispered into her ear.

"I love you too." Chevious sighed.

"Chevious…" Remus loosened his grip and bent down on one knee. "I wanted to do this the other night, but I lost my nerve, and I just want to say that I love you with everything I have. Will you marry me?" He pulled a box out of his pocket and opened it to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.

Chevious' eyes clouded with tears, and to think, she had thought the chance had passed her by.

"Yes! YES!"

Remus jumped up and embraced Chevious tightly. They kissed passionately, but were interrupted by catcalls and whistles. All of the marauders had poked their heads out of a window and were cheering and clapping. Chevious blushed and boarded the train hand in hand with Remus.

In the end, the second try had been more perfect than the first ever could have.


End file.
